China Intellectual Property Protections If you are doing business in or with China (and this includes having your products made in China), you need to safeguard your intellectual property (IP) rights there. Intellectual property encompasses intangible creations such as trademarks, copyrights, patents, and trade secrets. Trademarks: These are recognizable symbols, phrases, or logos that identify
What is a Copyright? The word copyright is a legal term of art used to identify the type of protection granted to an author, or creator, of certain types of creative works. When you set out to write a book, or a screen play, what you created, what you typed into your computer, or wrote
How to Tokenize Real Estate Tokenization of assets is one of the most common discussion topics in my blockchain/web3 practice. Both tangible and intangible and intangible assets can be tokenized. I have discovered that many first-time founders get lost in the cool functionality of their product and rarely step back to determine what the marketplace
Yesterday, some big news dropped that the cannabis industry has anticipated since last summer. I take issue with some of the headlines, so here’s mine: “DEA Reportedly Agrees to Initiate Proposed Rulemaking to Reschedule Marijuana…”. Clearly, I’m a lawyer and not a reporter, but the “Reportedly” and “Initiate Proposed Rulemaking” are key considerations here at
San Francisco vs. Oakland: Trademark Battle Over Airport Name San Francisco and Oakland are embroiled in a court dispute over the Oakland Airport’s plan to rename its airport “San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport.” Without doubt, this’ll be an interesting case to watch, as the court determines whether Oakland’s actions constitute trademark infringement. It is
Cannabis commercial lease agreements Signing a commercial lease can be an exciting step toward realizing operational goals in your Washington cannabis business. However, if a lease is not analyzed and completed correctly, the agreement can leave either the landlord or the tenant, or both, with additional headaches and liability. Understanding the nuances of the cannabis
Deepfakes — sophisticated AI-generated videos capable of seamlessly grafting a person’s face and voice onto another body — are stark examples of the challenges faced with AI technologies. Deepfakes are hyper-realistic fabrications that blur the lines between truth and fiction, presenting a formidable threat in the realm of misinformation. Deepfakes also have political implications, painting
On April 23, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a final rule banning noncompete agreements under sections 5 and 6(g) of the FTC Act. The ban applies to noncompetes in the employment context and does not necessarily apply to business-to-business noncompete agreements. This banning of non-compete agreements has left many employers wondering what this
On May 16, 2024, at 12 pm (PST), we are holding a webinar for the new healthcare compliance guidance issued by the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This is the first update to the OIG compliance guidance that was originally issued in 1998 for hospitals only.
Last week, California‘s Department of Cannabis Control (DCC) released illegal market enforcement data for quarter 1 of 2024. It’s become a new tradition of mine to compare this quarterly data and see whether the state is actually doing anything to fight the illegal market (for example, see my posts for Q4 2023, Q3 2023, and
