Cannabis Patent Litigation: What Constitutes Infringement?
Uncategorized November 6, 2019
As expected, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has continued to increase the number of patents issued containing the words “cannabis” or “marijuana” this year. Because we anticipate that the growing number of patents in this industry and progression of the first cannabis patent lawsuit (covered here, here, here, and here) inevitably will inspire more…
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Last week I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel called “Expert Perspectives on the Rapidly Evolving Cannabis Industry” at the Midwest IP Institute in Minneapolis, MN. One of the issues that is often a source of confusion, both at IP-focused events and for clients, is how to craft an appropriate specification of goods…
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CBD Products and False Advertising Under the Lanham Act
HempUncategorized October 12, 2019
A few weeks ago, I wrote a Hemp/CBD litigation forecast in which I predicted that at some point a CBD company will make use of the Lanham Act by claiming that a competitor is engaging in false or misleading advertising. (See here). In that post I promised to go into the Lanham Act in further…
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The USPTO Has Granted its First Hemp Plant Patent
HempUncategorized September 27, 2019
A first(!): Charlotte’s Web Holdings, Inc. (“CWB Holdings”), operated by the famed Stanley brothers, has secured the first-ever patent for a hemp cultivar in the United States. CWB Holdings is now the proud owner of a plant patent for “a new and distinct hemp cultivar designated as ‘CW2A.’” Patent documents describe CW2A as a hardy…
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Cannabis Trademark Litigation: Web Platform Liability (Mr. T v. Leafly)
Uncategorized September 24, 2019
On August 22, 2019, actor Mr. T, best known as a star of the TV series “The A-Team,” sued Leafly Holdings Inc. for trademark infringement. The lawsuit was filed after Mr. T’s attorneys sent multiple cease and desist letters to Leafly, which were allegedly ignored. The lawsuit stems from Leafly’s listing of a strain called…
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Cannabis Branding: New Rule Requires U.S. Attorney for Foreign Applicants and Registrants
Uncategorized September 13, 2019
Earlier this summer, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced that as of August 3, 2019, all foreign-domiciled trademark applicants, registrants, and parties to Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) proceedings must be represented by an attorney who is licensed to practice in the United States. This will apply to all trademark applicants,…
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Cannabis Trademark Litigation: Woodstock Case Shows Limits of Federal Trademark Protection
Uncategorized August 28, 2019
We’ve written extensively about the trademark protection strategies employed by cannabis businesses in light of the challenges they face to obtain federal trademark registrations for their cannabis goods and services. Recently, a court order in a motion for preliminary injunction involving the use of the famous WOODSTOCK mark raised some issues related to those strategies,…
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In following the progress of the first-ever cannabis patent litigation case, United Cannabis Corporation v. Pure Hemp Collective, Inc., the parties are now in a special phase of patent litigation called “claim construction.” Claim construction is specific to patent cases, and it’s the process of deciding what the various terms of the asserted…
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New Trademark Litigation Against “Stoney Patch” Cannabis Products Calls Out an Industry Trend of Copycats
Uncategorized August 9, 2019
We’ve followed and written extensively about trademark litigation in the cannabis space for the last several years, which you can read about here: UPS Sues Multiple Cannabis Delivery Companies for Trademark Infringement The “Tiger Hemp Beer” Case: Clear Your Cannabis Trademarks Before Filing Yet ANOTHER Cannabis Trademark Infringement Case: Tapatio Foods Files Suit What NOT…
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Although selling products that violate federal law is understandably prohibited on the Amazon platform, we have many clients that do sell their legal ancillary goods, as well as their hemp goods, on Amazon. And what many of them are unaware of is that Amazon’s Brand Registry is an excellent tool for protecting and maintaining control…
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