Background

Recently, you may have seen other people claiming to sell AVD products or even actually be AVD. Although we prefer to focus on providing our customers with the most innovative products and best service, we must address these recent developments.

We’ll be very blunt: Any products sold under the AVD brand by anyone other than ACTIVE or our authorized distributors are counterfeits. And any claims by other businesses that they are AVD are false.

As you know, our business (Next Level Ventures LLC) rebranded from AVD to ACTIVE last year. However, we are the owners of the AVD Trademark and are the only company that may use the names AVD and Advanced Vapor Devices. These rights have been confirmed by multiple courts and the US Patent and Trademark Office. Unfortunately, others are now violating those rights and falsely claiming to sell AVD products or even be AVD themselves.

Importantly, we have sold EVERY single AVD product since 2019—regardless of what others may claim. The products that other parties are now selling under the AVD brand are knockoffs. They are different products, made in different factories, sold by people without the right to use the AVD brand name.

ACTIVE, on the other hand, continues to provide the same high-quality products that you have come to know and love, made by the same team, in the same manufacturing facilities. It’s unfortunate that others are trying to confuse the market with knockoffs and wrongfully exploit our years of hard work that turned the AVD brand into a symbol of quality and innovation in the cannabis industry.

ACTIVE is a proud member of the cannabis community. We are committed to acting with integrity and treating our customers, partners, vendors, employees, competition, and the plant itself with the utmost respect. We hope this comes through in our dealings with you. If you would like more information on the legalities of this situation, please continue reading below.

If you hold the exclusive rights to the AVD brand, why did you change your name to ACTIVE?

We’re very proud of how we developed and nurtured the AVD brand into a symbol of quality and innovation in the cannabis industry. And while we are incredibly grateful for our history, because our business has evolved, we adopted a new brand identity that better reflects our approach to the industry, our business, people, and values. 

Why is someone else claiming to be AVD? Is this a legal dispute?

We were formerly in a business relationship with an entity named Avid Holdings Ltd., which was controlled by Jonathan Carfield. Under our agreement, Avid served as a trading company and administrative partner that, among other roles, registered the AVD trademark and licensed it to us. We were granted by Avid, and continue to hold the exclusive right to distribute our products under the AVD brand.

More recently, a Court awarded us ownership of the AVD and Advanced Vapor Devices trademarks because Avid has refused to pay the judgment awarded to us by a court. You can see proof of our ownership HERE and HERE.

No one else– not Avid or even Mr. Carfield–is permitted to sell AVD products or use the brand.

What is the status of your business relationship with Avid and Mr. Carfield?

Avid and Mr. Carfield have had no role in our business since October 2021, and Avid currently owes us approximately $1 million per a court judgment which remains unpaid, in addition to another $3+ million, which we are pursuing legally.

Avid broke our agreement in many ways. This is not just our opinion. Rather, this is the final ruling of an arbitrator AND a federal district court in Washington that confirmed the arbitrator’s award against Avid. You can read the court’s ruling HERE and see its judgment HERE. That ruling was upheld on appeal, which you can read HERE.

Can you help me understand the court cases related to all of this?

Avid’s breach of our agreement kicked off a string of legal proceedings that were necessary to protect our business and customers. A federal court has confirmed that only ACTIVE may sell AVD products. 

However, Avid and Mr. Carfield have previously and now again sought to create confusion in the market by selling products to which we hold the exclusive rights, as well as making false statements about AVD and its principals. Accordingly, we filed a lawsuit in Delaware against Jonathan Carfield as the manager of a new entity named Avid USA Technologies LLC. That court ordered (which you can read HERE), among other things, that:

This order is still in full effect. You can read the Court’s full opinion HERE.

How can I find out more about this situation?

Everything stated on this page is supported by publicly available court documents; just follow the links throughout the page. And while we aren’t interested in speaking ill of other people in our industry, we will not allow misinformation and infringements of our rights to go uncorrected.