Alison Marbury of Canna Law Group posted a great article on the very complicated issues surrounding patents and trademarks in the cannabis industry.  She notes:

Ownership of IP in the cannabis industry is a tricky issue, in large part because the USPTO will not issue federal trademark registrations for cannabis-related marks. Far too regularly, cannabis companies come to us with proposed licensing deals where basic due diligence quickly reveals that the licensor simply does not own what it claims to own.

Unfortunately, it’s much more complex than this one issue.  Marbury shares a dozen questions everyone should ask before signing a contract.

Also, it’s important to understand state laws:

In Washington State, traditional royalty payments based on sales are generally not allowed, because anyone sharing in the profits or revenues of a licensed cannabis entity must be declared to the Liquor and Cannabis Board as a true party of interest, which requires residency and vetting by the Board.

Read “Cannabis IP Licensing: It’s Complicated”: http://www.cannalawblog.com/cannabis-ip-licensing-its-complicated/

Published by NCV Newswire

The NCV Newswire by New Cannabis Ventures aims to curate high quality content and information about leading cannabis companies to help our readers filter out the noise and to stay on top of the most important cannabis business news. The NCV Newswire is hand-curated by an editor and not automated in anyway. Have a confidential news tip? Get in touch.