About six months ago, we posted news of the first ever cannabis patent infringement case. As a reminder, the case was initiated by United Cannabis Corporation (“UCANN”) in the United States District Court, District of Colorado against its in-state competitor, Pure Hemp Collective Inc. (“Pure Hemp”). The subject patent is U.S.P. 9,730,911 – “cannabis extracts
As ardent followers of this blog are well aware, one of my favorite pastimes is keeping tabs on who is suing whom in the cannabis industry for trademark infringement. These lawsuits serve as great examples for my clients of what NOT to do when choosing a brand for their company. The last couple of years
One of my favorite pastimes is perusing the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) Trademark Trial and Appeals Board’s (TTAB) records for disputes involving cannabis, hemp and CBD because there are often valuable lessons to be learned. One such record is the pending Notice of Opposition filed by Heineken Asia Pacific against Hemp Beer
I’ve worked on many celebrity licensing and endorsement deals, and my firm’s cannabis intellectual property lawyers have received countless inquiries from companies looking to partner with one celebrity or another. And while the best of the deals can be very lucrative (and interesting) for everyone involved, plenty of them fizzle out for one reason or
In previous posts, we’ve puzzled about why no one has filed a cannabis patent infringement case, despite the large number of patents granted for cannabis plants and compounds. See here, and here. That all changed last week. United Cannabis Corporation (“UCANN”) has now filed what is believed to be the first cannabis patent infringement complaint.
We’ve gone over the obstacles to obtaining federal trademark protection at length, but given recent inquiries our cannabis trademark attorneys have been receiving lately, it seemed high time to revisit what exactly makes a trademark “strong” or “weak.” I regularly have clients come to me with catchy marks they or their brand consultants have developed,
Every business thrives on brand differentiation. One of the most effective ways to promote public identification and recognition is to enhance and protect your brand. Your brand is of course your name but it is also your logo. Beyond that, really, it’s everything about you. As far as “formal” branding elements, logos are right there
Copyright is an aspect of intellectual property (IP) law less frequently considered by cannabis businesses than trademark, trade secrets or even patents it seems. Yet, like these other forms of intellectual property, copyrights can afford their holders with market dominance and profitability when utilized correctly. Almost all marijuana businesses own numerous unregistered copyrights, whether or
We’ve written extensively about the dos and don’ts of filing cannabis-related state and federal trademarks, and we all know by now that you cannot obtain a federal trademark registration for goods or services that are not lawful pursuant to federal law. But I’ve heard a lot of creative arguments in this space, and have had many
Last week I had the pleasure of attending the International Trademark Association’s (INTA) Annual Meeting in Seattle, where trademark practitioners from around the world convened to geek out on all things brand-related. One of the prevalent topics of conversation was trademark licensing. While we’ve discussed at length some of the challenges of entering into Intellectual
