Decisions · 86520138
In re PharmaCann LLC
Serial No. 86520138 · Decided 2017-06-16 · Other
What happened
Refusal affirmed (both marks) — the Board upheld the USPTO’s refusal to register PHARMACANN and PHARMACANNIS for retail-store and dispensing services featuring medical marijuana, holding that because selling and dispensing marijuana is a federal crime under the Controlled Substances Act, the company could not honestly intend to use the marks lawfully, so neither mark can be federally registered.
The marks
Applicant
PHARMACANNIS
"retail store services featuring medical marijuana," in International Class 35, and "dispensing of pharmaceuticals featuring medical marijuana," in International Class 44 (as amended)
Why this decision is significant
Precedential Federal Board decision that extends the unlawful-use / lack-of-bona-fide-intent bar to medical-marijuana service marks and is the first to reject the argument that the Rohrabacher-Farr appropriations rider legalizes medical marijuana for registration purposes, applying the Ninth Circuit’s McIntosh analysis. Frequently relied on in subsequent cannabis trademark refusals.
Research significance is Trademark Valet's editorial rating of how useful a decision is to practitioners. It is not a statement of precedential weight — that is the separate Precedential field, which comes from the Board.
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The original record
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