This week eight of the nine states voting on the issue said yes to cannabis decriminalization but the USPTO continues to say no.
Trademarkland takes a hard line against drugs, refusing to register any trademarks linked to cannabis. If anything, it has gotten even stricter on this issue over time. The law animating the USPTO, the federal Lanham Act, bars the registration of trademarks that are connected to “unlawful” uses.
While the USPTO seemed to invite companies to apply to register these types of trademarks in 2010 when it created a new trademark category: “processed plant matter for medicinal purposes, namely medical marijuana”, it quickly reversed course. Trademarks for marijuana, which is still illegal on the federal level (under the Controlled Substances Act), can’t be federally registered.
This summer the board overseeing the USPTO decided it could conclude from photographs submitted by a Washington dispensary that its “Herbal Access” trademark was being used for illegal services despite the fact that the owner never mentioned pot in his application. Then, a few weeks ago, the board issued another ruling refusing to register “JuJu Joints” as a trademark for marijuana vaporizers.
Trademarkland has jurisdiction over the entire United States but obeys its own set of rules.