For three months until last week, marijuana dealers had something they could only dream of before: the apparent stamp of approval of a federal agency.
On April 1, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office created a new trademark category: "Processed plant matter for medicinal purposes, namely medical marijuana." The patent office, part of the Department of Commerce, posted the new category on its website.
The patent-office change set off a land rush by pot dealers in the 14 states where laws permit medical-marijuana sales. Some staked claims on rights to long-used names like Maui Wowie and Chronic. Others applied to trademark business names such as Budtrader and Pot-N. Two companies applied to trademark psychoactive sodas named Keef Cola and Canna Cola.
"It looked like a positive step to me. We don't have many steps by the federal government legitimizing medical cannabis," said Steve DeAngelo, executive director of the Harborside Health Center medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland, Calif., who hired an intellectual-property lawyer to trademark his company name before the patent office created the new trademark category.
But last week the patent office snuffed out the promise of federal recognition. On Tuesday, after questions about the new pot-trademark category from a Wall Street Journal reporter, a patent-office spokesman said the office planned to remove the new pot classification by week's end, and the category is now off the website.
The spokesman, Peter Pappas, said the office's lawyers were "aware" of the category weeks ago. "It raises examination issues," Mr. Pappas said. "It was a mistake and we have removed it."
One key issue: Selling pot is a federal crime, even though some states have laws allowing it.
Mr. Pappas said the office will go back to its pre-April policy of accepting pot-trademark applications without providing a specific pot category. But that's back to square one: The office has never actually granted a pot trademark, the spokesman said, adding it's "highly unlikely" that it would do so in the future.
Marijuana dealers, their appetites whetted by the three months of hope, said they haven't given up their desire for federal recognition. Scott Ridell, a brand-development consultant for Panatella Brands, a Colorado pot-grower consortium, said his clients are still "moving forward" with branding efforts and hope the patent office will grant trademarks.
Mr. DeAngelo says he, too, is hopeful. He says Harborside is still aiming to get several trademarks and intends to "vigorously pursue those claims until we are awarded full protection status for our intellectual property."
The episode is the latest twist in the nation's rethinking of marijuana policy.
Over the past two years, the federal government has signaled a new tolerance of marijuana. Attorney General Eric Holder last year instructed federal prosecutors not to target dealers who comply with state med-pot laws.
So when pot entrepreneurs noticed the new April 1 category, they saw the opportunity to file pot trademarks as the latest step in the march toward legitimacy.
In June, Scott Van Rixel, a New Mexico chocolatier, applied for a trademark for "Bhang, the original cannabis chocolate," which he plans to sell this month in med-pot clubs in California and Colorado.
Mr. Van Rixel said he plans to continue pursuing the Bhang trademark. But instead of seeking a trademark for a product billed as a medical-marijuana item, he wants a trademark for a chocolate product that just happens to include marijuana as an ingredient.
The patent office received more than 250 pot-related trademark applications in the three months after it created the new trademark category (many, though, did not list the specific category; the patent office says about 57 applications did).
There were applications for trademarks on "Tartukan Death Weed," "Pot-N-Candy," and numerous businesses incorporating "Green" and "4:20"–a number that pot smokers often associate with weed, sometimes smoking it at 4:20 p.m. and celebrating April 20 as a pro-pot holiday.
Pot businesses that had earlier filed for trademarks–like the Canny Bus, a San Francisco medical-marijuana delivery service that applied to register its logo in February–had hope that the patent office would recognize them.
Weed entrepreneurs hired mainstream intellectual-property law firms like Knobbe Martens in Southern California and Weide & Miller in Las Vegas to register their weed trade names.
Representing a pot entrepreneur is no different from doing intellectual-property work for other clients, said Knobbe Martens partner Mike Trenholm. Weide & Miller partner Ryan Gile said he believes the patent office should award med-pot trademarks to his client, Panatella, even if there's no pot-specific category.
The pot-trademark rush created some friction in the pot trade, sparking arguments over whether long-used pot names such as Purple Haze and Acapulco Gold, made famous by comedian Tommy Chong more than 30 years ago, are subject to "prior art," meaning their use in the past precludes a trademark.
Panatella, the Colorado consortium, applied to trademark Mellow Yellow and many more oldies, including the word Chronic (pot slang made popular a decade ago by rapper Snoop Dogg), along with Maui Wowie, Albino Rhino and others.
Trademarking terms like Chronic would be "outrageous" because the names have been commonly used for decades, said Mr. DeAngelo, the Oakland med-pot CEO.
Mr. Pappas, the patent office spokesman, said the office will consider matters such as prior art on individual pot-trademark applications. New pot-trademark filings will be subjected to the office's normal 13-month review process, added a spokeswoman, Jennifer Rankin Byrne.
The brief life of the pot-trademark category began after the patent office got email requests to create a classification for med-pot trademarks, the patent-office spokesman said. In response, agency staffers created the new category because, he said, some state laws allow medical marijuana. To be eligible for a trademark, a product must be legal for interstate trade, not violate international trade agreements and be in ongoing commercial use.
In recent days, said Ms. Byrne in an email, "it has come to our attention that as a result of the state of the law regarding medical marijuana, there may be issues regarding whether trademark applicants with medical marijuana products and services can establish lawful use in interstate commerce."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Author: JUSTIN SCHECK
Contact: The Wall Street Journal
Copyright: 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Website: Patent Office Raises High Hopes, Then Snuffs Them Out
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
On April 1, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office created a new trademark category: "Processed plant matter for medicinal purposes, namely medical marijuana." The patent office, part of the Department of Commerce, posted the new category on its website.
The patent-office change set off a land rush by pot dealers in the 14 states where laws permit medical-marijuana sales. Some staked claims on rights to long-used names like Maui Wowie and Chronic. Others applied to trademark business names such as Budtrader and Pot-N. Two companies applied to trademark psychoactive sodas named Keef Cola and Canna Cola.
"It looked like a positive step to me. We don't have many steps by the federal government legitimizing medical cannabis," said Steve DeAngelo, executive director of the Harborside Health Center medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland, Calif., who hired an intellectual-property lawyer to trademark his company name before the patent office created the new trademark category.
But last week the patent office snuffed out the promise of federal recognition. On Tuesday, after questions about the new pot-trademark category from a Wall Street Journal reporter, a patent-office spokesman said the office planned to remove the new pot classification by week's end, and the category is now off the website.
The spokesman, Peter Pappas, said the office's lawyers were "aware" of the category weeks ago. "It raises examination issues," Mr. Pappas said. "It was a mistake and we have removed it."
One key issue: Selling pot is a federal crime, even though some states have laws allowing it.
Mr. Pappas said the office will go back to its pre-April policy of accepting pot-trademark applications without providing a specific pot category. But that's back to square one: The office has never actually granted a pot trademark, the spokesman said, adding it's "highly unlikely" that it would do so in the future.
Marijuana dealers, their appetites whetted by the three months of hope, said they haven't given up their desire for federal recognition. Scott Ridell, a brand-development consultant for Panatella Brands, a Colorado pot-grower consortium, said his clients are still "moving forward" with branding efforts and hope the patent office will grant trademarks.
Mr. DeAngelo says he, too, is hopeful. He says Harborside is still aiming to get several trademarks and intends to "vigorously pursue those claims until we are awarded full protection status for our intellectual property."
The episode is the latest twist in the nation's rethinking of marijuana policy.
Over the past two years, the federal government has signaled a new tolerance of marijuana. Attorney General Eric Holder last year instructed federal prosecutors not to target dealers who comply with state med-pot laws.
So when pot entrepreneurs noticed the new April 1 category, they saw the opportunity to file pot trademarks as the latest step in the march toward legitimacy.
In June, Scott Van Rixel, a New Mexico chocolatier, applied for a trademark for "Bhang, the original cannabis chocolate," which he plans to sell this month in med-pot clubs in California and Colorado.
Mr. Van Rixel said he plans to continue pursuing the Bhang trademark. But instead of seeking a trademark for a product billed as a medical-marijuana item, he wants a trademark for a chocolate product that just happens to include marijuana as an ingredient.
The patent office received more than 250 pot-related trademark applications in the three months after it created the new trademark category (many, though, did not list the specific category; the patent office says about 57 applications did).
There were applications for trademarks on "Tartukan Death Weed," "Pot-N-Candy," and numerous businesses incorporating "Green" and "4:20"–a number that pot smokers often associate with weed, sometimes smoking it at 4:20 p.m. and celebrating April 20 as a pro-pot holiday.
Pot businesses that had earlier filed for trademarks–like the Canny Bus, a San Francisco medical-marijuana delivery service that applied to register its logo in February–had hope that the patent office would recognize them.
Weed entrepreneurs hired mainstream intellectual-property law firms like Knobbe Martens in Southern California and Weide & Miller in Las Vegas to register their weed trade names.
Representing a pot entrepreneur is no different from doing intellectual-property work for other clients, said Knobbe Martens partner Mike Trenholm. Weide & Miller partner Ryan Gile said he believes the patent office should award med-pot trademarks to his client, Panatella, even if there's no pot-specific category.
The pot-trademark rush created some friction in the pot trade, sparking arguments over whether long-used pot names such as Purple Haze and Acapulco Gold, made famous by comedian Tommy Chong more than 30 years ago, are subject to "prior art," meaning their use in the past precludes a trademark.
Panatella, the Colorado consortium, applied to trademark Mellow Yellow and many more oldies, including the word Chronic (pot slang made popular a decade ago by rapper Snoop Dogg), along with Maui Wowie, Albino Rhino and others.
Trademarking terms like Chronic would be "outrageous" because the names have been commonly used for decades, said Mr. DeAngelo, the Oakland med-pot CEO.
Mr. Pappas, the patent office spokesman, said the office will consider matters such as prior art on individual pot-trademark applications. New pot-trademark filings will be subjected to the office's normal 13-month review process, added a spokeswoman, Jennifer Rankin Byrne.
The brief life of the pot-trademark category began after the patent office got email requests to create a classification for med-pot trademarks, the patent-office spokesman said. In response, agency staffers created the new category because, he said, some state laws allow medical marijuana. To be eligible for a trademark, a product must be legal for interstate trade, not violate international trade agreements and be in ongoing commercial use.
In recent days, said Ms. Byrne in an email, "it has come to our attention that as a result of the state of the law regarding medical marijuana, there may be issues regarding whether trademark applicants with medical marijuana products and services can establish lawful use in interstate commerce."
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Author: JUSTIN SCHECK
Contact: The Wall Street Journal
Copyright: 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Website: Patent Office Raises High Hopes, Then Snuffs Them Out
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
