Cannabis Patent Applications: Prolonging the Lifespan of Trade Secrets

By Nathalie Bougenies on June 15, 2018

…all the way through the patent application process.

The cannabis industry relies on trade secrets and increasingly, patents, to protect intellectual property (IP) assets. Patents protect new and non-obvious inventions, including plants, processes, and machines, while trade secrets protect any information, including “patentable inventions,” that provide economic value to the holder if kept confidential. Accordingly, the same information could potentially be protected by patents or trade secrets.

Although patents and trade secrets are alternative protections, marijuana businesses should treat them as complementary to expand the lifetime of a trade secret disclosed in a patent application until the patent issues.

Patents afford the most powerful IP protection in that they provide their owner with a temporary monopoly to exploit her invention, including against those who independently discover the invention. In exchange for this temporary monopoly, the patent owner is required to fully disclose the invention to the public, so that once the patent expires, anyone may freely utilize the invention.

Generally, the disclosure of the invention occurs roughly eighteen months from the date of filing through a process known as “publication.” Publication does not grant the patent nor does it guarantee that the patent will be issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Instead, publication simply allows the public to examine the patent application while it is being reviewed.

The initial filing of a patent application does not immediately break the confidentiality of the trade secret disclosed in the application. The law requires the USPTO to keep all patent applications—with a few exceptions—confidential before they are published. Before publication, the trade secret will not lose its secrecy so long as the trade secret owner continues to take reasonable confidentiality measures.

At the end of the eighteen-month period, an applicant may extend the confidentiality of the patent application by avoiding publication. The applicant may do so by expressly abandoning the patent application, or by filing a request for non-publication (so long as the applicant does not seek patent protection in a foreign country). Maintaining an application as confidential as long as possible allows the applicant to delay the disclosure of its invention until the patent issues. In a highly fragmented and competitive market like cannabis, this can make a world of difference.

Once the USPTO decides that the patent application meets all the patentability requirements, the patent will issue in its final form. At that point, even an unpublished patent application inescapably becomes public and loses its trade secret protection. However, in return, the patent holder now has a patent that it can enforce against infringers. In other words, trade secret protection is no longer required.

So despite their significant differences, patents and trade secrets are closely intertwined and should be considered concurrently when applying for a cannabis-related patent. By keeping the patent application from becoming public for as long as possible, you can extend your trade secret protection until the moment the patent issues. That is a critical competitive advantage, especially in a rapidly developing industry.

For more on cannabis patents and trade secrets, check out the following: