Cannabis IP Licensing 101

Cannabis intellectual property (IP) licensing deals can be complicated, presenting unique issues. Many companies expect the biggest hurdle to be state cannabis law compliance. Although this is certainly a major concern, it's important to start with the brand licensing fundamentals by analyzing the validity and strength of the IP itself. With any licensing deal, the first step should be determining who actually owns what IP. This is especially true when it comes to the cannabis industry, where information, strain names, and industry terminology have been shared freely since long before state-level legalization.

Ownership of IP in the cannabis industry is a tricky issue. Far too regularly, cannabis companies come to us with proposed licensing deals where basic due diligence quickly reveals the licensor simply does not own what it claims to own. A little bit of high-level IP due diligence can save a lot of money.