June, 2018
UPDATE: Maine Supreme Court Holds State Worker Compensation Law Preempted
Jun. 28, 2018—Last week the Maine Supreme Court issued its decision in Bourgoin v. Twin Rivers. For the full opinion, see here. I blogged about the case back in October: see Cases to Watch: Bourgoin v. Twin Rivers and Workers’ Compensation. In this post, I’ll briefly describe the court’s recent holding and then provide a few thoughts...
Two New Articles on the International Law Ramifications of State Marijuana Reforms
Jun. 9, 2018—State marijuana reforms raise a host of nettlesome–and seldom discussed–questions about United States compliance with and the ultimate fate of international drug control treaties. Fortunately, two new articles focus on those questions and begin to fill the gap in the literature. The first is by Brian Blumenfed, an attorney and researcher: Pacta Sunt Servanda: State Legalization of Marijuana...
Analysis of the Warren-Gardner STATES Act
Jun. 7, 2018—[Update 6/8: I redrafted some of the language below for clarity and conciseness.] On June 7, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D MA) and Cory Gardner (R CO) formally introduced legislation to eliminate much of the conflict between state and federal marijuana laws. A full copy of the proposed legislation, called the “Strengthening the Tenth Amendment Through...
Should the Patent & Trademark Office Register Trademarks for Marijuana Products?
Jun. 6, 2018—Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to debate the question posed by the title of this post with Shabnam Malek, a pioneering trademark attorney with Brand & Branch, LLP. The debate was organized by the International Trademarks Association (INTA) for its annual meeting in Seattle, and it was expertly moderated by Dean Megan Carpenter...