A district court issued a permanent injunction Friday prohibiting Iowa State University administrators from using trademark policy to stop a campus group from printing university-themed T-shirts that depict a marijuana leaf.
In a 45-page ruling, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa permanently barred ISU from enforcing the university's trademark licensing policies in a discriminatory manner against the campus chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws.
The court specifically blocked ISU "from further prohibiting plaintiffs from producing licensed apparel on the basis that their designs include the image of a similar cannabis leaf."
Students Erin Furleigh and Paul Gerlich, both former presidents of the NORML chapter at ISU, sued the university in July 2014 after officials rejected the student group's already approved T-shirt design — which included a marijuana leaf over the words "Freedom is NormL at ISU."
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Jeff Charis-Carlson ~ Des Moines Register ~
