Snoop Dogg is trying to copyright the name Leafs by Snoop to market marijuana. The Maple Leafs, through the giant multi-amusement firm, has objected. There is no information on just what MLSE is saying in its intervention, but the hockey guys might have the English language on their side. Common modern usage of the word Leaf originated as a short form for the Toronto Maple Leafs — not leaves, the only plural of the word “leaf” known to English. And it has been that way for a while now. As first reported by Rick Westhead at TSN, Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus, Jr., filed an application with the United States Patent and Trademark Office on Nov. 17 to sell and market a series of marijuana-related products adorned with a seven-pointed gold leaf and Leafs by Snoop emblazoned over them. CBC points out that the most common types of marijuana leaves often has seven points. The Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club logo, meanwhile, is a maple leaf with 31 points — a nod to the year Maple Leaf Gardens opened, in 1931.
