Dispute Lights Up Over Medical Pot Video

SACRAMENTO (CN) - The producer of an instructional video on growing medical marijuana claims the advertising and consulting firms it hired conspired to copy, distribute and sell the how-to film without its permission. Grow Scene Productions says it enlisted Haze Consulting, Get Me Going Productions, Robert Pyne Media and Sareli Marketing to edit and promote its pot-growing video, "Mary N' Jane Present the Successful Indoor Cultivation of Medical Marijuana," featuring the fictional characters "Mary" and "Jane."

The companies allegedly assured Grow Scene that the video would not be completed or reproduced without Grow Scene's written approval, but on Aug. 17, Grow Scene found Haze promoting the video at a Las Vegas marijuana trade show.

When confronted, Sammy Trujillo of Haze said he was in the process of printing 10,000 DVDs for distribution at the Seattle Hempfest later that month, according to the federal complaint.

Trujillo allegedly got the video from Robert Pyne of Robert Pyne Media, and a man named Marlo Jordon "was responsible for ordering and paying for" the 10,000 unauthorized DVDs.

Grow Scene claims it also learned that Get Me Goings had changed the password of its website, www.maryjane.com, without Grow Scene's consent, allowing anyone to download copies of the video "with users directed to Get Me Goings' PayPal page when attempting to make their purchase."

Get Me Goings also refuses to return all production materials for the video, Grow Scene claims.

Grow Scene says it lost at least $150,000 due the defendants' copyright infringement, conversion, unfair competition and false designation of origin.

It demands punitive damages and an order barring the sale of its video against the four firms, along with Trujillo and Jordon.

The production company is represented by Alan Korn in Berkeley, Calif.

Follow @MariaDinzeo

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