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TD Garden owner sues cannabis dispensary The Boston Garden
“We're Boston people, and to get whacked by a family from Buffalo over this and they're getting billions of dollars a year in revenue is really frustrating.”
The owner of TD Garden is suing a cannabis dispensary called The Boston Garden for allegedly copying their “distinctive and famous” trademark, notably the name of Boston’s former arena.
Delaware North, run by the billionaire Jacobs family who own the Boston Bruins, filed a federal lawsuit in court in Boston last month against the dispensary, alleging trademark infringement and dilution, among other complaints relating to the brand.
The dispensary’s name “is likely to deceive” the public, argued the Buffalo, New York-based Delaware North.
“The Boston Garden mark has become widely known and famous throughout the United States in connection with Boston’s premiere sports arena,” the complaint said. “Members of the public are likely to be confused as to the source, sponsorship, or other commercial affiliation.”
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The Boston Garden dispensary, co-founded by actor Jonathan Tucker from Charlestown and city employee Ivelise Rivera, first opened in Athol in 2021. The dispensary also opened locations in Cambridge in 2024 and Somerville last year.
The pair came up with the name in 2020 and hired trademark attorneys to move the process forward. Rivera said they “went completely by the book.”
“When we filed the name, there’s an objection period, and they never objected, never said a thing,” Tucker said. “Against all odds, we start to make it, and we build this brand over six, seven years, and then the Jacobs family and Delaware North decide, ‘Oh no.’”
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TD Garden has bore the name of the Canadian bank since the mid-2000s and will keep it until 2045. The original Boston Garden, which was a few hundred feet away from the formerly named Fleet Center, closed in 1995 and was demolished in 1998.
The complaint said that Delaware North’s trademarks include Boston Garden apparel, accessories, and memorabilia. Their marketplace “reaches the same general consumer population targeted by (The Boston Garden’s) retail operations,” the Buffalo company alleged.
“It’s ludicrous. It doesn’t make any sense,” Rivera said, noting that their brand has nothing to do with sports. “We’ve never had anyone come into the store and say, ‘Oh, I thought we were going to the Boston Garden to see the Bruins and see the Celtics. That’s never happened.”
Delaware North did not return a request for comment but told The Boston Globe that “we have made good‑faith efforts over a period of years to resolve this matter amicably and remain hopeful that an agreement can still be reached.”
Tucker said the multi-billion dollar company reached out with a cease and desist about 18 months ago and did not contact The Boston Garden’s lawyers ahead of filing the lawsuit.
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“If that’s amicable, I can’t even imagine what Delaware North and the Jacobs family does when they’re mad at somebody,” Tucker said. “We’re Boston people, and to get whacked by a family from Buffalo over this and they’re getting billions of dollars a year in revenue is really frustrating.”
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