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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 the list of states that have legalized adult-use cannabis continuing to grow, businesses are entering the industry at a rapid pace. However, one of the biggest questions facing these businesses is how to develop and...more
Future Intentions Not Enough to Pave the Road to Registration - “Reduces pain,” “alleviates anxiety,” “improves sleep” – these are just some of the claims of the miraculous CBD. The surfeit of new CBD brands and products...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The September 2021 issue of Sterne Kessler's MarkIt to Market® newsletter discusses a recent non-precedential Trademark Trial and Appeal Board decision regarding intent-to-use applications covering CBD products currently...more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
There are over 2,000 pending federal trademark applications for supplements containing cannabidiol ("CBD"). None of these applications is likely to proceed to registration under current law....more
Examining attorneys at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) are citing a recent 2020 decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) to support the position that trademarks for many products (particularly...more
Trailblazing Legislation to Watch in 2021 - Welcome to our first installment of Watching the Pot™, which will provide summaries on recent buzz-worthy cannabis information, including decisions, legislation, news, and cases...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
Creativity abounds in the CBD industry – both in the wide variety of products infused with it, and in the efforts undergone by applicants trying to circumvent the Trademark Act to register per se unlawful CBD-infused...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
The relationship between the cannabis industry and intellectual property laws in the United States is unique and complicated, in many ways mirroring the nation’s collective views on the cannabis plant. This is unfortunate, in...more
A June 16, 2020 precedential decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board held that Federal trademark registration is not available for food, beverages, or nutritional/dietary supplements to which hemp-derived cannibidiol...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
The United States Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) recently affirmed a refusal to register a trademark for “hemp oil extracts” when used as an ingredient in dietary supplements, finding that the applicant could not...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
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
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
The continuing internal tension between various agencies and offices of the U.S. federal government over how to address the (seemingly) unstoppable growth of the marijuana industry in light of current federal law has been a...more
Brand owners seeking to register cannabis-related trademarks take note: the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently issued guidance regarding the effects of the 2018 Farm Bill on the registration of trademarks for...more
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") generally refuses to register marks that violate federal law. Hemp and hemp-derived CBD were previously classified as Schedule I controlled substances under the Controlled...more
Trademark practitioners, hemp producers, and hemp-derived product manufacturers have long struggled with the clash of federal and state law regarding protection of trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office...more
Following the enactment of the 2018 Farm Bill [see related article1], the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) just this morning released a new Trademark Examination Guide for marks covering cannabis and...more
In a previous Legal Alert, we covered the removal of one impediment to federal trademark registration for hemp/CBD products: namely, that hemp/CBD products will no longer be outlawed by the Controlled Substances Act and will...more