Marijuana is big business and the opportunities to make money, just like the plant, will only continue to grow. In 2015, Colorado’s marijuana sales came close to a staggering one billion dollars. And in next month’s election, five states will be voting on legalizing marijuana for recreational purposes, while four more states will be asking voters to decide whether the plant should be available for medical purposes. Businesses will expand and new companies will be born in order to try to cash in on this lucrative market.
What does all of this have to do with patents? Plenty. Just like any other type of business, companies that are in the marijuana industry have the potential to reap substantial rewards by developing and protecting intellectual property. Technology can and does play a role in making money with marijuana, and protecting that technology can give companies a strong competitive edge. One may ask, however, whether it is even possible to obtain a “marijuana patent.” After all, under federal law, the plant is still illegal—the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency continues to list it under Class 1 (the most restrictive of the agency’s five classes for dangerous drugs). How then is it possible to obtain from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, an administrative agency of the U.S. government, patent rights that relate to marijuana?
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