On Friday, I had the privilege of speaking on a panel at American University Washington College of Law’s Intellectual Property Symposium in Washington D.C., which addressed the obstacles of obtaining and enforcing IP rights in the cannabis industry. Many of the questions asked were ones I’ve been working through for the last several years, so
In the old days, people rarely wrote things down when they sold cannabis. Selling the flower was risky, and leaving a paper trail riskier still. With the advent of medical marijuana programs, though, cannabis supply contracts became routine. Such agreements may be styled as “patient-caregiver agreements” or “patient-grower agreements,” and state agencies may even require their
Arbitration Versus Litigation We’ve written previously on arbitration and why it so often makes sense for cannabis business contracts, primarily because of enforceability issues stemming from cannabis being illegal under federal law. But in the realm of commercial real estate leasing, cannabis uses can present other unique challenges that require thoughtful solutions to disputes, and, more importantly,
Given the onslaught of media pieces lately on celebrity cannabis brands, this would be a good time to enumerate branding issues faced by cannabis business owners, and to discuss how celebrity branding is different. There are three main ways a brand owner can establish trademark rights: By using the mark in connection with their goods or
Green Party presidential candidate (and physician) Jill Stein really says it all here--marijuana is not dangerous, and keeping it illegal benefits no one and instead puts many in danger. Keeping marijuana illegal fosters a vast illegal market that can itself be unsafe, and marijuana legalization has already started to put an end to that. In
Last month, I had the honor of speaking at the International Trademark Association’s Annual Meeting about the unique trademark issues faced by the cannabis industry. We’ve written extensively on the subject (see below for some of the highlights), but it’s about time for a basic refresher on trademark law and the trademark issues cannabis business
The Mendocino Appellations Project is one of the best cannabis branding ideas we’ve heard in a while. According to the Ukiah Daily Journal, “[s]ome farmers in the Emerald Triangle, seeking to reserve the name recognition the crop has brought to the region for decades, are turning towards establishing regional appellations to protect the unique culture
As a follow up to our recent onslaught of posts on Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer’s crackdown on medical marijuana delivery services, we thought we’d compile a list of five things you probably do not know about Proposition D. And even where these five rules are known, we see a serious shortage of abiding businesses.
Spain’s cannabis laws have progressively liberalized to the point where Spain is now one of the most cannabis-friendly countries in Europe. Spain is a relatively decentralized country, with independent communities having a great deal of autonomy. Consequently, each region can for the most part set its own laws regarding marijuana. Catalonia, where I am based,
We write frequently about the importance of contracts to the state-legal cannabis industry. (For a crash course, check out Doing Business with Pot Businesses #2: Cannabis Business Contracts; Marijuana Contracts: Get them in Writing; and How to Draft an Effective Marijuana Contract.) We preach about the need to have solid contracts in place before you need them, covering
