Fred dirige el departamento de propiedad intelectual Harris Sliwoskiy es el coordinador del equipo internacional del bufete. Gran parte de su trabajo consiste en ayudar a las empresas del sector del cannabis a proteger sus marcas. También colabora con emprendedores y empresas que se adentran en el ámbito de la Web3, una nueva frontera para el derecho de la propiedad intelectual. Antes de incorporarse Harris Sliwoski, Fred trabajó en el extranjero durante más de una década, tanto en el sector público como en el privado. Fred colabora habitualmente con los galardonados China Law Blog Canna Law Blog.
Fred comenzó su carrera en el extranjero como funcionario consular de Estados Unidos en Guangzhou (China), donde abogó por un trato más justo para las empresas y los ciudadanos estadounidenses en China, así como por una aplicación más estricta de los derechos de propiedad intelectual. Tras incorporarse al sector privado, Fred trabajó en un bufete de abogados de Shanghái como asesor jurídico extranjero y, más tarde, se incorporó a uno de los bufetes estadounidenses más antiguos de China, donde ayudó a empresas extranjeras a desenvolverse en el entorno jurídico chino. También dirigió el equipo jurídico de una consultora de protección de marcas con sede en Hong Kong, pasando la mayor parte de su tiempo sobre el terreno, protegiendo a los clientes frente a falsificadores y estafadores en la Gran China, el Sudeste Asiático y América Latina.
Además de su labor en materia de propiedad intelectual, como hispanohablante nativo, Fred colabora estrechamente con diferentes Harris Sliwoski en asuntos relacionados con Latinoamérica y España. Fred también asesora a empresas del sector del cannabis y a otras empresas en transacciones de importación y exportación.
Fred es un ferviente seguidor del FC Barcelona, y lo sería incluso aunque no tuviera antepasados catalanes que emigraron a Puerto Rico a mediados del siglo XIX.
Federal or state trademarks, which should I register? This is a question we regularly get in our IP practice. For cannabis brands in particular, the answer is often straightforward. The lawful use requirement The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is responsible for registering trademarks at the federal level. According to the Trademark Act
Brazil’s elections recently took place, with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva voted into a third term as Brazil’s president. To learn what the results mean for cannabis, we sat down with Rafael Arcuri of Brazil’s National Association of Industrial Hemp (ANC). While some challenges lie ahead, overall Lula’s return to power augurs well for cannabis
Colombian legalization of adult-use cannabis is on track, following the Chamber of Representatives’ overwhelming vote of support for a bill introduced by a multiparty group led by Liberal Party deputy Juan Carlos Losada. Back in June we held out some cautious optimism regarding Colombian legalization prospects, following the election of Gustavo Petro as president. As
We recently got to ask Kai-Friedrich Niermann of KFN+ Law Office some questions about EU Novel Food authorizations. His answers are a must-read for cannabis food businesses interested in the EU market. 1. What is an EU Novel Food authorization? Novel foods are regulated in the European Union by the so-called Novel Food Regulation (Regulation
President Biden’s recent announcement of a pardon for federal cannabis offenses has caught the attention of observers abroad. In fact, I was quoted in an article by Brazilian journalist Anita Krepp on the subject. Unfortunately, the example being set by Biden for other countries is, in part, a bad one. To be clear, we are
The notion of ornamental trademark use is foreign to many cannabis businesses. This is unfortunate, because it’s an important issue to understand in the cannabis industry, where the only federal trademark protection we can obtain is for ancillary goods and services. (See here for the limitations of federal trademark protection in the cannabis industry.) The issue of
Czechia, officially known as the Czech Republic, may soon the join the growing list of European countries with legal adult-use cannabis. Czech National Anti-Drug Coordinator Jindřich Vobořil is drafting the requisite legislation, which could be in place by 2024. As to what the new law might look like: The new measures should establish the level
Panamá ha aprobado una normativa sobre el cannabis medicinal, tras convertirse en octubre de 2021 en el primer país centroamericano en legalizarlo, en virtud de la Ley 242. La normativa adopta la forma de un decreto promulgado por el presidente Laurentino Cortizo Cohen, que «regula el uso y el acceso al producto y sus derivados, con fines terapéuticos, médicos, veterinarios y científicos
The U.S. Constitution gives Congress certain enumerated powers (Article I, Section 8), with powers “not delegated to the [federal government] by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people” (Tenth Amendment). While one of the enumerated powers is the regulation of interstate commerce, the
Tobacco paraphernalia is in many cases indistinguishable from cannabis paraphernalia, especially when products are unconnected to specific consumers. If an item can be used in both lawful and unlawful ways, it seems illogical to classify it as drug paraphernalia, unless the item is connected to illegal activity. Yet the approach of the U.S. federal authorities
