How To Deal With A Copycat

Three cannabis brands share their experiences, wins, and regrets.

Friday, February 14, 2025
Time to read: About 15 minutes. Contains 3,600 words.

Peter Lloyd, 1982.

After 11 years in the weed scene, the lines between subjects and friends have blurred. My community includes my sources. My cat is referenced by name in PR sends. So, when I spotted a paid ad for what looked almost exactly like Another Room’s Jointlocker, but under the name JointKeeper by a brand called Funky Forms, I felt personally offended.

I’ve spoken to AR’s co-founders, Chloe Popove and Shafeez Walji, at length about their design process and consideration when it comes to methods and materials. I know that the satisfying sound you hear when sliding a lighter out of the Jointlocker is intentional. I recognized an uncomfortable similarity in Funky Form’s name, “JointKeeper,” its design, and the whole website’s color palette. So I reached out to Another Room. And I reached out to Funky Forms. I also reached out to many other colleagues, running this Jointlocker/JointKeeper situation past them for a third-party reaction and gathering any similar anecdotes.

It’s an interesting question: in 2025, at a time when one can find 100+ versions of most things somewhere online, where is the line between creative inspiration and lazy knockoff?

This dispatch explores three case studies: Homecoat vs. Housecoat, Session Bong vs. Pinnacle Bong, Jointlocker vs. JointKeeper. What happened, what they did about it, and what came out of their courses of action. Then, we zoom out to look at other factors at play when assessing your options.

A quick note before we dive in: I’m no contracts lawyer, and no two cases are alike. One brand’s advice won’t fit all. But it’s all relevant information to those creating new products. And if you are an innovator with great ideas, as I know many of you are, you are on track to meet your first copycat sooner than later.

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Case Study #1: Gossamer X OffHours Homecoat

Left: Houseplant’s Housecoat; right: Gossamer X OffHours Homecoat.

Q&A with Verena von Pfetten, co-founder of Gossamer, who collaborated with OffHours on a limited edition Homecoat.