Gene Markin

Firm/Organization: Stark & Stark

Blogs: Construction & Transition Litigation Law Blog, New Jersey Law Blog

Latest Articles

The ABCs of CBD in Food and Beverages

By Gene Markin on September 19, 2019

CBD products: you may have seen them at your local grocery store, convenience store, or chiropractor’s office in the form of gummies, brownies, sodas, and cookies. CBD is one of many cannabinoids found in the cannabis plant. Unlike THC, which gives users a “high,” CBD contains little to no psychoactive properties, but comes with many benefits. CBD is being heavily studied and is showing great promise as a nutritional and wellness supplement. CBD products are…

New Jersey Law Blog

An Introduction to Cannabis Legalization

By Gene Markin on September 11, 2019

This article was co-authored with Bojana Petkovic, Project Manager, at LoudCloudHealth.com The trend of cannabis legalization is spreading throughout the globe. Uruguay and Canada became the first two countries to fully legalize the plant for both medicinal and recreational purposes. The USA has not yet done the same on a federal level, nevertheless some states have already passed laws that allow growing, processing, distributing, and using cannabis products. In this article, we discuss the world of…

New Jersey Law Blog

A Case of Bananas: Costume Copyright Infringement

By Gene Markin on August 16, 2019

Not all bananas are created equally. Rasta Imposta, a retail wholesaler of Halloween costumes, filed a claim for copyright and trade dress infringement and unfair competition against Kangaroo Manufacturing, another costume retailer, after Rasta’s CEO discovered Kangaroo selling a costume that resembled one of Rasta’s costumes without a license. The costumes in issue in Silvertop Assocs. v. Kangaroo Mfg., No. 18-2266, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 22989 (3d Cir. Aug. 1, 2019) consisted of full-body yellow…

New Jersey Law Blog

Iancu v. Brunetti: The Best Defense is a Great Offense

By Gene Markin on July 2, 2019

This month, the Supreme Court struck down 25 U.S.C. § 1052(a) of the Lanham (Trademark) Act of 1946, which prohibited federal trademark registration of “immoral or scandalous” marks for goods and services, on the grounds that it violated the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause as impermissible viewpoint-based discrimination due to its favoring of certain ideas over others.…

New Jersey Law Blog

USDA Clarifies Hemp Production, Use, and Transportation

By Gene Markin on June 21, 2019

In December 2018, Congress approved the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (the “Farm Bill”) which authorized the production of hemp and removed hemp and hemp seeds from the DEA’s schedule of illegal Controlled Substances. After passage of the Farm Bill, questions arose with respect to interstate hemp transportation and who could obtain a license to produce hemp. Adding to the confusion, a number of Midwestern states seized hemp traveling through their borders and charged drivers…

New Jersey Law Blog

USPTO Provides New Guidance for Registration of Cannabis and Cannabis-Related Marks

By Gene Markin on June 13, 2019

After passage of the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (“The Farm Bill”), many professionals in the cannabis industry wondered how the new law would affect the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) stance on trade and service marks for cannabis sativa L species (hemp) and hemp-related goods and services.…

New Jersey Law Blog

Invasion of the Copyright Trolls: What to Do If You Have Been Sued by Strike 3 Holdings or Malibu Media over Alleged BitTorrent Downloads

By Gene Markin on June 6, 2019

Over 2700 additional copyright infringement lawsuits were filed in U.S. federal courts in 2018 compared to 2017. That increase was due in large part to cases that pornography studios, Strike 3 Holdings and Malibu Media, filed against John Doe internet downloaders alleging illegal downloading of the studios’ videos over file-sharing services like BitTorrent. BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file-sharing protocol that allows users to exchange large amounts of data in short periods of time. Unlike other…

New Jersey Law Blog

The Real Estate Hunt Is On: New Jersey to Issue Up to 108 Additional Medical Cannabis Licenses

By Gene Markin on June 6, 2019

On June 3rd, the New Jersey Department of Health (DOH) announced will be seeking applicants for 108 additional medical marijuana licenses across the state. License applications will be available online July 1st and must be submitted by August 15th. The expansion of medical cannabis facilities intends to accommodate the 30,000 new patients now qualified for medical marijuana under Opioid Use Disorder, Tourette’s syndrome, migraine, anxiety, and chronic pain conditions. New Jersey now has more than…

New Jersey Law Blog

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Scope, Reach, and Safe Harbors

By Gene Markin on May 15, 2019

With businesses engaging in increasingly more commerce over the internet, it is crucial to understand the consequences of displaying, using, and transferring another entity’s works online. Enter The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) of 1998, which was signed into law by President Clinton to keep pace with the new realities of internet technology and commerce. The Act sought to protect intellectual property rights while simultaneously advancing the growth and development of e-commerce.…

New Jersey Law Blog

Employers: Think Twice Before Retaliating Against Employees for Medical Marijuana Use

By Gene Markin on April 8, 2019

Although New Jersey lawmakers cancelled a vote on an adult-use recreational cannabis bill recently, medical cannabis use gained some support following a ruling from the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of New Jersey that an employer’s failure to accommodate medical marijuana use by an employee constituted a valid basis for an employment discrimination claim.…

Gene Markin

The ABCs of CBD in Food and Beverages

An Introduction to Cannabis Legalization

A Case of Bananas: Costume Copyright Infringement

Iancu v. Brunetti: The Best Defense is a Great Offense

USDA Clarifies Hemp Production, Use, and Transportation

USPTO Provides New Guidance for Registration of Cannabis and Cannabis-Related Marks

Invasion of the Copyright Trolls: What to Do If You Have Been Sued by Strike 3 Holdings or Malibu Media over Alleged BitTorrent Downloads

The Real Estate Hunt Is On: New Jersey to Issue Up to 108 Additional Medical Cannabis Licenses

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act: Scope, Reach, and Safe Harbors

Employers: Think Twice Before Retaliating Against Employees for Medical Marijuana Use

Company

Support

New to the Network