Cannabis & Psychedelics On the 2024 Ballot
The DEA Is Knocking at Your Door . . . Are You Prepared? – Diagnosing Health Care
If Cannabis Is Reclassified, What Will Happen to the Marketplace? – Diagnosing Health Care
Cannabis Law Now Podcast: What’s Next for Schedule III Marijuana
Podcast - DEA Plants the Seed for Rescheduling Marijuana: What's Next?
The Presumption of Innocence Podcast: Special Edition | Episode 36 - Rolling Change: The DEA Turns Over a New Leaf on Marijuana Scheduling
Cannabis Law Now Podcast: THC Infused Beverages: Cantrip's Journey Through the Hemp-Derived Looking Glass
Cannabis Law Now Podcast: The ‘CannaBoies' Lawsuit and Why it Matters
Law of the Land? Cannabis, Preemption, and SCOTUS [More with McGlinchey Ep. 37]
Understanding the Psychedelics Renaissance Podcast
[Podcast] Virginia Seeks to Become the Next State to Decriminalize Possession of Psychedelic Mushrooms
Minor Cannabinoids: Exploring the Science, Legality, & Opportunities
A history of the decline and rise of the marijuana empire
Canna We Talk Cannabis? Emerging Topics in Cannabis Law
2019 Cannabis & Co: Addressing Cannabis in the Workplace (Part 2) - Proposition 64
Podcast: Non-binding Guidance: FDA’s Regulation of Products Containing CBD
Part 1 of 2: The Impact of Marijuana for Employers
Trademark law protects businesses’ brand identities and helps prevent consumer confusion. The U.S. trademark system operates at both federal and state levels. Federal registration through the United States Patent and...more
What do Megan Rapinoe, Kevin Durant, Shawn Kemp, Calvin Johnson, Willie Nelson, Wiz Kalifa, Margo Price, and Sublime all have in common? They all have created their own boutique cannabis brands. As cannabis has become more...more
The Ninth Circuit issued two opinions in BBK Tobacco & Foods LLP v. Central Coast Agriculture, Inc. finding judicial power over pending trademark applications and an exception shielding trademark registrations for marks used...more
Based on recent events, it seems likely marijuana will be rescheduled under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) sometime this year. While many industry experts have discussed the impacts in recent months, many questions still...more
Republic Technologies (NA) LLC (“Republic”) filed an application to register the proposed mark 4:20 with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”). Republic amended its goods twice during prosecution of the...more
Apologies for the cannabis puns in the title, but they are required by law. Okay, you are correct. That is not true. But it is true that trademark protection is important for individuals in the cannabis industry. Earlier this...more
With more individuals and businesses entering the cannabis sector, there has been an increased interest in what kind of trademark protections a cannabis business can obtain. This article seeks to briefly cover what in the...more
A recent lawsuit alleging trademark infringement by AmerikanWeed illustrates the importance of protecting intellectual property in the cannabis industry. Complaint at 9-10, Palmer, et al. v. Komm et al., No. 21-2-13589-3 SEA...more
Recently, we published an article regarding the increasing viability of cannabis related patents. See here. Sadly, the story is the opposite for federal trademarks. Last month, National Concessions Group, Inc. (“NCG”) was...more
Thank you for reading the May 2023 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter. This month, we discuss Taco Bell's attempt to cancel two TACO TUESDAY trademark registrations, and a precedential TTAB decision...more
Addressing the registrability of marks for cannabis-related products, the Trademark Trial & Appeal Board upheld an Examiner’s refusal to register marks for an “essential oil dispenser” based on extrinsic evidence that the...more
Although commercial use of a trademark alone triggers rights in a mark, wise business owners endeavor to take advantage of the added benefits and protections conveyed by federal registration. One of the most important...more
In the first federal appellate ruling on delta-8 THC, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals deemed the substance legal—at least for purposes of trademark protection—concluding that if “Congress inadvertently created a loophole...more
The September 2021 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter discusses a recent non-precedential Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision regarding intent-to-use applications covering CBD products currently...more
On July 14, 2021, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, together with Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden and Senator Cory Booker, released a discussion draft of the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act (the...more
[co-author: Richa Patel, Summer Associate] The July 2021 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter discusses fluid trademarks and the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act. Plus, check out the answer key...more
It has been two years since the federal “Farm Bill” removed hemp from the definition of marijuana, rendering cannabis plants and derivatives (such as CBD derived from hemp) that contain no more than 0.3% of THC on a...more
In a precedential decision earlier this year, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board thinned some of the haze surrounding the registrability of trademarks for hemp-derived CBD products. In line with the U.S. Patent and...more
On September 25, 2020, the TTAB issued a non-precedential decision summarily rejecting an applicant’s attack against an examining attorney’s refusal to register the mark NATURAL LEAF CBD LIVE BETTER NATURALLY & Design for use...more
Despite the 2018 Farm Bill’s relaxation of hemp regulation, and the fact that many states that have decriminalized or legalized cannabis and its derivatives, applicants still may face an uphill battle in obtaining federal...more
This article discusses the global developments for the registration of cannabis and cannabis-related trademarks in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the European Union....more
Companies entering into the emerging market for medical and recreational marijuana products and services will face unique challenges when attempting to protect trademarks. Such challenges include brand protection in states...more
Unlike patents and copyrights, obtaining a federally registered trademark requires (among other things) that applicants abide by the “lawful” use in commerce requirement. In other words, the United States Patent and Trademark...more
The Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (“TTAB”) reiterated once again that you cannot register marijuana marks at the federal level. The TTAB announced its decision on July 16, 2019, rejecting Canopy Growth Corporation’s, a...more
Legalizing “hemp” under the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (2018 Farm Bill) has triggered an important change for the examination of federal trademark applications concerning cannabis and cannabis-derived goods and...more