The curious case of protecting cannabis IP rights

Companies and individuals have used intellectual property over time to protect their business names via trademarks, their pharmaceutical compounds via patents, the shapes of their packaging via industrial designs. Albeit each of these things brought something new to the table, it was never truly controversial (at least for some). Until now.

It seems that especially ”big business” in Canada is investing heavily into protecting the IP rights over their marijuana, be it medical or recreational. They have applied to protect everything from the pharmaceutical use of cannabis in various tinctures and ointments up to strain names.

Two US market research companies have predicted that global consumer spending on cannabis will reach 32 billion $ (yes, it begins with a ”b) by the year 2022.

To put matters into perspective, Canopy Growth Corporation, the world’s second-largest cannabis company by market value, have filed over 80 patent applications in the past year and a half. These numbers would rival automotive companies.

This news would have blown peoples minds 20 years ago, now it just seems like the next logical step into a more open future.

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*Illustration by Huan Tran*