Marijuana company backs down in MGM trademark suit

After being sued by MGM, a marijuana company has agreed to stop calling itself “M’Life,” a name almost identical to that of MGM’s member rewards program.

MGM Resorts International filed a federal lawsuit in Las Vegas in September, accusing M’Life Wellness and sister companies of diluting MGM’s “M Life” trademark and “cybersquatting” on the website mlifewellness.com.

The two companies reached a settlement in principle months ago that was finalized last week, according to a notice filed with the court Friday.

Dan Lutz, CEO of the former M’Life, said he was surprised by the lawsuit and had no intention of infringing on MGM’s trademark.

“We weren’t even aware of the loyalty card that they had,” Lutz said, adding with a laugh, “I mean, I’m not a gambler, so …”

The thinking behind “M’Life,” he said, was as simple as this: M is for marijuana.

This week, the mlifewellness.com site was dead, though records showed it is still registered to Lutz. MGM uses the site mlife.com.

Lutz would not reveal his company’s new name, saying he and his partners are still working on plans.

MGM’s lawyers didn’t return requests for comment Tuesday.

At the time the lawsuit was filed, M’Life Wellness was hoping to open a medical marijuana dispensary by that name in Las Vegas.

But its application was rejected by the City Council in October.

The state also rejected M’Life’s dispensary, ranking it 40th of 49 applicants in Las Vegas.

Only the top 12 in the city got provisional licenses.

MGM’s “M Life” program started in 2010 and has more than 34 million members, according to its lawsuit.

State business records show the three companies MGM sued — M Life Inc., M’Life Nevada LLC and M’Life Wellness LLC — were registered in 2014.

MGM’s complaint says it sent M’Life Wellness a cease and desist letter, but the company refused to stop using the M’Life name. Lutz said he had offered to change the logo, but that did not satisfy MGM.

MGM argued consumers might be confused by the M’Life name and wrongly associate the casino company with marijuana, which would “tarnish” MGM’s reputation.

Lutz, who has worked in the marijuana industry in California, became involved in the issue after his father — who later died — got throat cancer in 1999.

He and business partners still want to open a dispensary in Las Vegas and plan to reapply when the state next takes new applications.

“Now we’ll just do it under a different name,” Lutz said.