Are You Getting Bang for Your Buck with Canadian Trademarks?

On January 1, 2024, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) introduced significant increases to the government fees it levies on actions before the Canadian Trademarks Office, including fee increases of over 30% for filing applications and renewing registrations. Similar fee increases have also been implemented for opposition and non-use cancellation proceedings, among other transactions. With …

Doobie-ous Competition: How a Cannabis Company Can Use Employment Agreements to Protect Intellectual Property

In our prior posts, we discussed the two issues that should be at the forefront of any branding strategy: Avoiding potential trademark infringement claims, and Protecting the business’ brand through trademarks In this post, we briefly discuss how cannabis businesses can implement employment agreements to further protect their intellectual property. Terminating an employment relationship carries …

How To Protect Your Cannabis Trademarks in a Legal Landscape That Is Half-Baked

In our previous post, we discussed how a cannabis business can take steps to avoid potential trademark infringement claims. In this release, we will discuss how a cannabis business can use trademarks for brand protection – despite the fact that federal law prohibits filing a cannabis-related trademark. Acquiring State Trademarks The most obvious (and widespread) …

Avoiding a Bad Trip: How Cannabis Companies Can Mitigate the Risk of an Infringement Lawsuit

Over a decade has passed since recreational cannabis began to see legalization at the state level. Yet cannabis businesses continue to grapple with protecting their brands, as trademark protection at the federal level remains unavailable. The current hodgepodge of state trademark regimes will undoubtedly result in litigation and a race to register federal marks once …

Warhol and Prince: Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists…Litigate

Picasso said: “good artists borrow, great artists steal.”  Or maybe he took the phrase from someone else.  In any case, the US Supreme Court has again confounded the legal world by upending expectations, if not years of precedent – though this time in the intellectual property arena.  Warhol v. Goldsmith[1] also has the potential to …

Canadian Intellectual Property Fees on the Rise in 2024

On June 1, 2023, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) introduced amendments to fee schedules set out in the Patent Rules, Trademarks Regulations, Industrial Design Regulations, and Copyright Regulations and will take effect by January 1, 2024. The amendments are generally in line with fee increases put forward by CIPO for public consultation earlier this …

You Received a “Notice of Data Security Incident” from the USPTO—Now What?

The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) recently issued a notice that a data security incident exposed domicile addresses of numerous trademark applicants who filed applications between February 2020 and March 2023. A copy of the first page of the notice is below: The USPTO stated that the incident occurred when a vulnerability in …