Becki Lee

Subscribe to Becki Lee's Posts
Contact:Read more about Becki Lee

Trademark owners in the cannabis field keep trying new ways to register their marks, and who can blame them? Branding is everything in an increasingly online world, and protecting your brand’s reputation is paramount to staying in business, especially when you operate in an industry mired in legal grey areas. The cannabis industry is growing and the laws are constantly…
Continue Reading Yes, Really: The TTAB Affirms That the USPTO Will Not Register Marks for Illegal Goods

As we previously reported, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a trademark examination guide last year, broadening the class of cannabis-related goods for which cannabis companies could register their trademarks. The examination guide explained that, because certain hemp-based products with less than 0.3% THC–including CBD–are no longer controlled substances under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), companies…

Continue Reading Don’t Rush to Apply for that CBD Trademark Just Yet!

Maine is on track to launch its first recreational marijuana businesses in June, four years after its residents voted in favor of legalization. A year ago, Maine created an Office of Marijuana Policy (OMP) within its Department of Administrative and Financial Services. The OMP handles all licensing, compliance, and oversight of medical and recreational use of marijuana. In…
Continue Reading Maine Considers Trade Secret Protection for Cannabis Companies

Regular readers will recall that in March we blogged about cannabis-related trademarks.  We now have an update:

On May 2, 2019, the USPTO distributed an Examination Guide updating their practices after passage of the 2018 Farm Bill on December 20, 2018. The Farm Bill removes “hemp” from the definition of “marijuana” in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), so now…
Continue Reading Likely to be Dazed and Confused – An Update

It is well known that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) does not allow federal registration for cannabis-related trademarks (discussed by this blog here and here). Some commenters have speculated that, because courts have been chipping away at the bans on immoral, scandalous, and disparaging trademarks, the ban on federal trademark registrations related to illegal activity may be next.
Continue Reading Likely to be Dazed and Confused: the Hazy Future of Cannabis-related Trademarks