Fred leads Harris Sliwoski’s intellectual property practice and is the coordinator of the firm’s international team. Much of Fred’s practice consists of helping cannabis businesses protect their brands. He also works with entrepreneurs and companies entering the Web3 space, a new frontier for IP law. Prior to joining Harris Sliwoski, Fred worked overseas for more than a decade, in both government and private sector roles. Fred is a regular contributor to the award-winning China Law Blog and Canna Law Blog.
Fred began his career overseas as a U.S. consular officer in Guangzhou, China, where he advocated for fairer treatment of American companies and citizens in China and for stronger intellectual property rights enforcement. After entering the private sector, Fred worked at a Shanghai law firm as a foreign legal advisor and later joined one of the oldest American law firms in China, helping foreign companies navigate the Chinese legal environment. He also led the legal team at a Hong Kong-based brand protection consultancy, spending most of his time out in the field, protecting clients against counterfeiters and fraudsters in Greater China, Southeast Asia and Latin America.
In addition to his IP work, as a native Spanish speaker, Fred works closely with different Harris Sliwoski teams on Latin America and Spain matters. Fred also provides advice to cannabis industry participants and other businesses on import and export transactions.
Fred is an ardent supporter of FC Barcelona—and would be even in the absence of Catalan forebears who immigrated to Puerto Rico in the mid-1800s.
Rafael Arcuri, Henrique Coelho, and Marcelo De Vita Greco just penned a great article in Consultor Jurídico on the denials by the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) of applications to register cannabis trademark on the grounds that they offend morality and good customs. The basis for these denials is Article 124(III) of Brazil's Industrial
Back in October 2019, Deputy Kayra Harding introduced a bill (Proyecto de Ley No. 323) to promote the development of the hemp industry in Panama. The bill would establish a licensing regime for hemp cultivation and processing. Hemp is defined as cannabis whose THC content does not exceed 1.5% on a dry weight basis. However,
Germans have delightful ways of describing political coalitions. My favorite is the Jamaica coalition, called this way because the colors of the political parties involved are those of the Jamaican flag: green, yellow and black. Following Germany's elections on September 26, the most likely outcome is a traffic light coalition, made up by the Social
Last year, the Isle of Man's parliament (Tynwald) amended the Misuse of Drugs Act 1976, in order to provide a legal framework for the development of a cannabis industry on the island. Specifically, the Act now allows the Gambling Supervision Commission (GSC) to except cannabinol, cannabinol derivatives, cannabis, or cannabis resin (other than a medical cannabis
Puerto Rico Representative Héctor Ferrer Santiago plans to introduce a bill this month to decriminalize adult-use cannabis. In addition, he raised the prospect of a separate bill that would "regulate where [cannabis] can be consumed and under which circumstances, as with [tobacco]." Medical cannabis is already legal on the island. This would not be the
Back in May, we urged cannabis businesses to be mindful of the U.S. prohibition on the importation of goods produced by forced labor. Our concern stemmed from the growing interest on the part of our cannabis clients in establishing operations in countries where they can take advantage both of suitable climate conditions and low labor
Costa Rican legislators are set to reinitiate debate over a bill (Expediente N.° 21.388) to legalize hemp and medical cannabis. The bill was cleared by the Legislative Assembly's Environment Commission last November, but its presentation to the assembly's plenum has been delayed. The bill's author is independent legislator Zoila Rosa Volio, an agronomist and lawyer,
Germany will hold parliamentary elections on September 26 of this year. While the ruling Union is expected to win the largest number of seats in the Bundestag, the majority of polls show the Greens (officially Alliance 90/The Greens) taking the second-highest number of seats. In fact, as recently as May, some polls had die Grünen
In what has undoubtedly been the biggest cannabis news to come out of Latin America in a while, Mexico's Supreme Court declared the prohibition on adult-use cannabis to be unconstitutional. This means you can now drive the 7,498 miles between Sydney, Nova Scotia and Ciudad Hidalgo, Chiapas passing solely through jurisdictions where cannabis is legal
This past May 15 and 16, Chile elected a constitutional convention, tasked with drafting a new basic law for the South American country. Cannabis observers should take note, as the resulting document could have positive implications for cannabis. Chileans voted in favor of a constitutional overhaul following the protests that roiled the country in 2019
