Trademark Strategies for Emerging Marijuana Businesses
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office requires “lawful use in commerce” for registering trademarks. What happens when a company wants to apply for a trademark and its business is medical or recreational marijuana? Will the USPTO register the mark? Does it matter that medical marijuana has been “legalized” in 21 states and recreational marijuana has been “legalized” in 2?
Kieran Doyle answers this and other questions in his article, “Trademark Strategies for Emerging Marijuana Businesses.” The article includes trademark registration strategies that can be used by companies looking to enter the new, potentially massive, market of medical and recreation marijuana. A PDF version of the article is available here. This article originally appeared in Westlaw Journal’s Intellectual Property newsletter (Volume 21, Issue 2/May 14, 2014).
For any questions concerning registering your marijuana-related trademark or any other intellectual property questions, contact Kieran Doyle (kgd@cll.com, 212 790-9261).