Alt Legal WebinarHigh Hopes: Cannabis Trademark Applications at the USPTO
Alt Legal Team | May 19, 2022
This webinar was recorded on June 2, 2022.
Trademark attorneys are generally aware that the unusual “federally illegal/state legal” landscape of the cannabis industry in the United States has resulted in significant complications for companies applying for federal trademark registrations. However, there are ways to legally obtain federal trademark registrations to protect cannabis companies and brands. Join us for a webinar with Dykema Gossett attorney Rachael Dickson—who specialized in cannabis trademark registrations while working as a trademark examiner at the USPTO—to hear about the USPTO’s current policies toward cannabis trademarks and strategies for obtaining protection. Topics include:
- Dazed but mostly confused: cannabis legality in the United States
- A growing field: cannabis trademark applications at the USPTO
- In the weeds: marijuana and the CSA
- Now I know my CBDs: hemp and the FDCA
- Budding areas: Delta-8 THC and psychedelics
- Breaking the grass ceiling: how the USPTO may handle future federal legalization
View recording here (free registration required).
You can download the presentation materials here.
Resources:
- JD Supra Blog Link (Thanks, Kamran Aryah)
-
Link to decision (Thanks, Kamran Aryah)
- I really enjoyed this blog on Delta 8 (Thanks, Allison Hoots)
- USPTO Examination Guide 1-19: Examination of Marks for Cannabis and Cannabis-Related Goods and Services after Enactment of the 2018 Farm Bill
Speaker Bio
Rachael Dickson, Trademark Associate, Dykema Gossett
Rachael Dickson is a trademark associate at Dykema Gossett and a former trademark examiner at the USPTO, where she specialized in examining cannabis trademarks. She previously worked with the Illinois-based medical cannabis company PharmaCann and has also worked with the legaltech company Heirlume to develop AI trademark searching and application tools. In her spare time, she researches and writes about English history; she lectured on Tudor “Trademarks” at TudorCon in 2021 and will be presenting on Tudor Patents and Copyrights later this year.