Spare a thought for plant patents, which are often the forgotten children of the patent system.

While utility patents address “any new and useful process, machine, manufacture, or composition of matter . . . ” (e.g., the better mousetrap) and design patents address “any new, original and ornamental design for an article of manufacture . » Read More

I was honored to be a panelist at the New York City Bar Association’s event “The Cannabis Goldrush and the IP Landgrab” this week.  The title of my presentation was “Trends in Cannabis Patenting.”  I began with examples of the three types of patent (utility, design, and plant) before moving onto the somewhat related Plant Variety Protection Act. » Read More

Cannabis-related U.S. patents have been issued since at least the mid-1990s. We previously discussed the United Cannabis Corp. v. Pure Hemp Collective Inc. case in a previous blog post, in which a biotechnology company sued a vendor of cannabis extracts for patent infringement.» Read More

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has been issuing cannabis-related utility patent applications for decades and applies the same legal standard when reviewing as it does to all other inventions. The validity and enforceability of these issued patents remains less clear.» Read More