Federal Protection for Cannabis Brands: USPTO Issues New Guidelines on CBD
Federal Protection for Cannabis Brands: USPTO Issues New Guidelines on CBD

On December 20, 2018, the Farm Bill of 2018 was signed into law, which explicitly removed hemp and its byproducts from the definition of Marijuana, a substance prohibited by the Controlled Substances Act. On May 2, 2019, the USPTO issued Examination Guide 1-19 providing official guidance for federal trademark applications covering cannabis and cannabis derived goods and services. It’s now clear that the USPTO will allow federal trademark registrations for marks used on some hemp-based products, including those containing hemp-derived CBD, but there are important limitations.

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Christina SaundersTrademark, Cannabis, Intellectual Property, USPTO
Keeping Secrets: Best Practices for Employee Confidentiality Agreements
Keeping Secrets: Best Practices for Employee Confidentiality Agreements

Businesses of all sizes often have valuable confidential and proprietary information for which employees have exposure to during their employment, an disclosure of such information by an employee may be catastrophic to the company. Confidentiality agreements are often used as a tool to minimize risk of disclosure. The following article provides common questions every company must answer in preparing a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement.

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Business, Confidentiality Agreement, Non-Disclosure AgreementsChristina SaundersBusiness, Non-disclosure agreement, confidentiality agreement, corporate law, Contracts
Operating Agreement Must-Haves
Operating Agreement Must-Haves

Laws do not dictate very much about how LLCs operate, so the members of an LLC need to spell pretty much everything out in an operating agreement. If something isn’t included in detail, it can cause really big problems later on.

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Christina Saunders