CBD is Turning Up Everywhere – But is it Allowed?

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CBD is Turning Up Everywhere – But is it Allowed?

One of the hottest trends in many industries is the addition of cannabis-derived extracts to consumer product formulas.  This is likely driven by the widespread popularity of local and state attempts to legalize medical or recreational marijuana use.  The personal care product industry is no exception to the trend, as any number of new product lines from moisturizers to mascara are being released with cannabis extracts in their formulations.  Cannabidiol (CBD) is turning up in all types of consumer food and drink products, from honey to craft beers.Honey with CBD

The cannabis plant contains over 113 known cannabinoids, or naturally-occurring compounds that interact with receptors in the human body, including cannabidiol (CBD) and THC. Since psychoactive effects are often attributed to the THC ingredient, it is generally avoided in consumer products, but CBD is considered to have no psychoactive properties and is becoming a popular ingredient, as is its cousin, hemp seed oil.  Some believe CBD can have health benefits – but more about that later.  In the current confusing state and federal legal environment concerning marijuana, many consumer product companies are wondering, is it legal to include CBD in my products?  The short answer is no. The long answer is “it’s complicated.” And the most important answer is that the environment is changing fast, so in the near future the question may become moot.

To understand the current complications, a little background on cannabis extracts is essential.  First, hemp and marijuana are both varieties of the cannabis sativa plant.  Various cannabis extracts can be sourced from different parts of the cannabis plant in a variety of ways. The most common cannabis extracts used in personal care and many other products are hemp seed oil and CBD oil. Hemp seed oil is produced by cold-pressing the seed of a hemp plant, while CBD oil is generally produced from the leaves and flowering tops of either a marijuana plant or a high-CBD hemp plant. Marijuana has high amounts of THC, the psychoactive ingredient that produces the “high” of marijuana. Hemp, on the other hand, typically contains only trace amounts of THC, but can be bred to have high amounts of CBD. While hemp seed oil differs from CBD oil, the legality of the two are intertwined. In short, hemp seed oil imported from abroad is legal, while hemp seed oil sourced from hemp grown in the United States may be legal in certain circumstances. CBD oil, on the other hand, is at present illegal under federal law under all circumstances.

Sterilized seeds and oil and cake made from the seeds of the cannabis plant (we’ll refer to these as “Hemp Oil” for the sake of simplicity) do not fall under the purview of the Controlled Substances Act (the CSA), which regulates federal U.S. drug policy. Hemp Oil is not deemed to be a controlled substance, so the production, distribution and possession of Hemp Oil is legal.  However, there are heavy regulations on the cultivation of “industrial hemp” (cannabis plants with THC concentration <0.3% by dry weight) from which Hemp Oil is derived. In simplified terms, Hemp Oil must be either imported into the U.S. or derived from industrial hemp legally grown pursuant to a 2014 Farm Bill. Pursuant to the 2014 Farm Bill, industrial hemp may only be grown for commercial purposes under specific pilot programs that have been adopted in particular states.

Unlike Hemp Oil, CBD is most easily derived from the leaves and flowering tops of cannabis plants.  CBD sourced from the leaves and flowering tops of the marijuana plant is illegal under the CSA, because the leaves and flowers of cannabis plants are not exempt from the definition of the CSA. But CBD can also be derived from industrial hemp, and since the passage of the 2014 Farm Bill it was commonly believed that CBD derived from legally grown industrial hemp would be legal. But it’s not that simple.  In 2017 the DEA implemented a final rule specifically targeting cannabinoid extracts, which includes CBD extract, regardless of its source. The final rule defined a new category of “marihuana extract” under the CSA that specifically rendered cannabinoid extracts a controlled substance illegal in general distribution and use. The DEA reiterated that any such cannabinoid extracts substance “will continue to be treated as Schedule I.”

The legality of the DEA’s new “marihuana extract” definition is questionable, but at present the new category of “marihuana extract” stands under the CSA, making CBD illegal under federal law. Hemp Oil is still legal and available for use in personal care products if imported into the US or grown pursuant to the state-licensed commercial hemp grower pilot programs. In May 2018, the DEA issued an internal directive acknowledging that products and materials made from the cannabis plant that fall outside of the CSA’s definition of marijuana (such as “sterilized seeds incapable of germination, and oil or cake made from the seeds”) can be “sold and otherwise distributed throughout the United States without restriction under the CSA or its implementing regulations.” But this directive does not make CBD legal in the DEA’s view.

Despite the dubious legal status of CBD oil and to a lesser extent Hemp Oil, many companies are choosing to forge ahead and add cannabis extracts to their products. Many such risk-takers believe that DEA enforcement against CBD-containing products is virtually nonexistent, and demand for consumer products containing CBD is high, so the potential risk is outweighed by perceived market benefits.

That conclusion is reinforced because there is a widespread perception that soon all these concerns could go up in smoke. Congress has begun action to remove industrial hemp from the definition of marijuana under the CSA. Such a move would also remove any extracts derived from hemp from the new definition of “marihuana extract.” Reports indicate that Congress may pass the bill before the end of 2018, effectively making CBD oil derived from hemp legal across the United States.  If that comes to pass, the product manufacturers who decided to jump the market and add CBD to their products even when it was legally dubious to do so may feel vindicated.

Honey with CBD Benefits ClaimedBut CBD is not a magic elixir that relieves brand owners from overreaching in their labeling and advertising.  In a future blog post, we’ll address the hazards of claiming health benefits from use of non-medical products, including those containing CBD.

Conkle, Kremer & Engel attorneys stay up to date on important regulatory developments affecting their clients in the manufacturing and resale industries, and are ready to help clients navigate the fast-changing regulatory federal and state landscape.  If you have questions in this or other consumer product regulatory areas, contact CK&E at counsel@conklelaw.com or 310 998-9100.

 

10
SEP
0

Advertising and Labeling, Alcoholic Beverages, Beauty Industry, California Trade Regulations, Food, Craft Beer and Nutrition, Manufacturing, Personal Care Products, Regulatory Compliance

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Making Your Mark in the Craft Beer Business, Part One – Identifying and Protecting Your Trademarks

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Making Your Mark in the Craft Beer Business, Part One – Identifying and Protecting Your Trademarks

According to the Brewer’s Association there were over 6,000 craft breweries operating in the United States at the end of 2017. In an increasingly crowded market, how do you ensure that the craft beer consumer is able to distinguish your brewery from your competitors? You should begin by identifying your trademarks.

A trademark is any word, phrase, symbol or design that uniquely identifies the source of one company’s goods from those of other companies. While the law in the United States recognizes a broad range of “source identifiers” as trademarks, most companies focus their intellectual property protection efforts on brand names, slogans and logos. Especially at the early stages of your business, it is important to focus your protection efforts on the essential elements of your brand. For example, your brewery may have a dozen regular varieties of beer, plus several small release or seasonal brews throughout the year. Seeking trademark registrations for each of your beers may quickly deplete your legal budget, and so a more focused approach is usually the best course of action. For most breweries, their primary protection efforts should focus first on their brewery name and logos, and then on the names of one or two of their flagship beers.

In the United States, a brewery’s trademark rights arise at the time it starts using the mark in commerce. This means that the first person to begin using a trademark in connection with the sale of beer owns that mark, and may be able to prevent others from using confusingly similar marks on beer and beer-related goods and services. That is, a registration with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is not necessary to own a trademark. However, these “common law” rights are limited in that they can only be applied to the geographic area in which you are selling your beer. Any business that is serious about protecting its brand should seriously consider applying for registration of the essential names and logos.

Some of the benefits that federal trademark registration provides to the trademark owner include:

(1) Preventing infringement problems before they begin by making your marks easy to find in a search of marks registered with the USPTO;

(2) Getting the USPTO to do a degree of enforcement on your behalf by preventing the registration of other marks found to be confusingly similar by the USPTO’s examiners;

(3) Giving you nationwide priority when your marks might otherwise be limited to the geographic area in which you are using the mark;

(4) Putting other companies on notice of your trademark rights so that they cannot claim that their subsequent use of your mark was in “good faith;”

(5) Creating a presumption of validity and ownership of your mark in the event that you need to sue another company for infringing your trademark rights;

(6) Providing the ability to recover treble damages and attorney’s fees in “exceptional” cases of trademark infringement;

(7) Providing the ability to recover statutory damages in cases involving counterfeiting;

(8) Giving you the ability to file for “incontestability” after five years of registration, which severely limits other companies’ ability to invalidate your trademark;

(9) Empowering Customs and Border Protection to block imports that infringe your trademark rights, including counterfeit products, once you record your trademark registration with Customs; and

(10) Granting you the right to use the ® symbol in connection with your beer, further putting your competitors on notice of your trademark rights.

Even if you’re in the planning process, and have not begun selling your beer yet, you may apply on an “intent-to-use” basis, meaning that you have concrete plans to begin using your mark in connection with the sale of beer. An intent-to-use application allows you to claim priority over other companies who might begin using your mark or a confusingly similar mark in the period between your application date and the date you start actually using the mark.

Keep in mind that you may not be able to establish exclusive trademark rights in a mark that is generic or descriptive of your products. For example, if you’re selling an IPA called “Hoppy IPA,” you will likely be unable to stop other breweries from using the name “Hoppy” in connection with their hop-forward beers. The “Hoppy” mark would be deemed descriptive because it describes a characteristic of the beer. The only way to establish trademark rights in a descriptive mark is to show that consumers associate the mark with your company. In the “Hoppy IPA” example, that means that consumers who hear “Hoppy” would need to immediately connect that term with your brewery.

On the other hand, you can reference a characteristic of your beer with a suggestive mark that requires consumers to use some imagination to connect your mark to the product. For example, consider Deschutes’ “Fresh Squeezed” mark for their IPA brewed with Citra hops, which alludes to the citrus notes in their beer. Stronger still are arbitrary names that have no direct connection to your beer or its characteristics (think “Stone Brewing” or “Rogue Ales”) or fanciful names you made up that have no literal meaning (like “Mikkeller” or “CANarchy”).

Stay tuned for Part Two of our brewery-focused trademark posts, in which we will discuss considerations regarding coexistence agreements.

Conkle, Kremer and Engel has assisted its clients in securing and protecting their trademarks for over thirty years. Whether you’re in the planning stages or already operating your brewery, contact Zachary Page or CK&E’s intellectual property team for help identifying or protecting your trademarks.

5
SEP
0

Advertising and Labeling, Brand Protection, Food, Craft Beer and Nutrition, Trademarks

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CKE Attorneys Attend Craft Brewers Conference in Nashville

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CKE Attorneys Attend Craft Brewers Conference in Nashville

From April 30 to May 3, 2018, attorneys Evan Pitchford and Zach Page of Conkle, Kremer & Engel attended the Brewers Association’s Craft Brewers Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.  The Conference, with nearly 15,000 attendees, is the premier trade show, educational, and networking event for the craft brewing industry.  At the Conference, Mr. Pitchford and Mr. Page participated in numerous business and legal affairs seminars and conferred with brewery operators and executives, suppliers, attorneys, accountants, and consultants from California and across the country.

While the main theme of the Conference was solidarity and cooperation between independent craft brewers and their networks, prominent legal and business issues discussed among attendees often focused on the increasingly crowded space of the craft beer market.  This increasing competition has resulted in intellectual property conflicts and disputes (for example, regarding trademarks for brewery names or branding for particular beers) that craft brewers need to plan around when starting their business and expanding their portfolios.  CK&E has attorneys like Mr. Page and Mr. Pitchford who are experienced in assisting clients in selecting, registering, and enforcing trademarks and trade dress in many consumer product industries.

Another hot business topic concerned distribution models for small breweries.  In several states (including California), self-distribution is available for small breweries (California allows for self-distribution regardless of volume), but as our previous blog noted, oftentimes a small brewery reaches a point where it cannot handle its own distribution and must seek out a distributor.  And, of course, in many other states, self-distribution is not permitted at all, necessitating the involvement of a distributor when a brewery wishes to sell draught beer or package their products.  Many small breweries are concerned not only with the myriad choices of distributors, but also with finding a distributor that is the right fit and will actively promote their portfolio, and with the often restrictive laws that are involved in manufacturer-distribution relationships.  Breweries should certainly be choosy about their distributors when possible, and in many jurisdictions there are an array of potential contractual provisions (for example, regarding sales goals, chain vs. independent accounts or other account stratification, marketing, plans for brand growth, audits, etc.) that can help shape a distributor relationship before it starts.  It pays to consider and discuss as many contractual parameters as possible before signing a distribution agreement.

Additional hot topics at the Craft Brewers Conference included new Tax and Trade Bureau funding for enforcement, government regulations of taprooms and brewpubs, off-premise sales, and licenses for short-term out-of-state sales (e.g. for festivals or competitions).  As the craft brewing industry continues to grow in footprint and sophistication, look for business and legal issues to be pushed even further to the forefront of the discussion.

Contact Conkle, Kremer & Engel for assistance with your brewery business or distribution needs.

10
MAY
0

Alcoholic Beverages, Brand Protection, California Trade Regulations, Contracts, Business and Finance, Food, Craft Beer and Nutrition, Trademarks

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Relationships Between Producers, Wholesalers, and Retailers: Beer Distribution and Franchise Laws in California (Part 2)

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Relationships Between Producers, Wholesalers, and Retailers: Beer Distribution and Franchise Laws in California (Part 2)

In a recent blog post, we discussed beer self-distribution rules in California.  While the self-distribution laws in California are generally quite accommodating, and self-distribution works for a start-up craft brewery with limited funds, on a practical level it can only serve a relatively small geographical area.  As a brand increases in local popularity and the beer producer wants to expand its footprint and accelerate its competition with brands and beers outside its home region, usually the producer will choose to enter into a distribution agreement with an established third-party wholesaler.  When a beer producer chooses to contract with a distributor, then it is important to be aware of the applicable beer franchise laws (which also vary from state to state).  Beer franchise laws control the relationship between the brewer and the wholesaler and will generally trump contract terms that do not comport with such laws.

Beer franchise laws stem from a decades-old period when relatively few national-level breweries (like Budweiser and Miller) were able to exert significant power over the beer distribution industry, which at the time was chiefly comprised of numerous small mom-and-pop outlets.  As an example, the macrobreweries would impose stringent requirements for their distributors that necessitated significant investment (such as construction and maintenance of a sophisticated refrigerated warehouse), but there was nothing to protect the distributor when the macrobreweries decided to switch to a competitor, leaving the distributors with little recourse to recoup their investment.  To protect the distributors from this predicament, strong state franchise laws were enacted that made it difficult for the breweries to terminate contracts with distributors.

At their most draconian, beer franchise laws can marry a brewer to a distributor even if the brewer only sends a small initial amount of beer to the distributor for resale without any written agreement whatsoever.  In some cases distributors can even have the power to transfer the distribution rights to successors-in-interest without the brewer’s consent.  In many states, a brewer can only cancel a distribution contract for “good cause,” which may not include failure to reach sales quotas.  Further, many states require a brewer, in order to break a distribution contract, to pay the wholesaler Fair Market Value (“FMV”) for the lost business.  Of course, these rules have shifted a significant share of power to the distributors.

As the franchise laws weren’t enacted with the microbrewing phenomenon in mind, they can make distribution difficult for craft brewers that don’t have the clout of a national macrobrew and who don’t impose stringent requirements on their distributors.  In certain situations, a small brand may feel that a distributor is paying attention to other more established brands and that it is not getting the benefit of its bargain with the distributor.  However, many beer franchise laws have been softened over the past several years, allowing for more competition in the wholesale market and giving fledgling breweries more choice and control over the terms of their third-party distribution.  For example, some states exempt breweries that produce less than certain annual volumes from the franchise laws.  Of course, exemptions like this mean that brewers need to be conscious of their plans to grow and potentially exceed those volume limitations, and consider how it will affect their distribution agreements.

California’s beer franchise laws are some of the most accommodating in the country, because California allows the distribution agreement itself to control most of the important terms and dealings between the brewer and the wholesaler.  In California, a brewer must enter into exclusive written territorial agreements with distributors that are filed with the ABC (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 25000.5).  California’s franchise laws do not restrict brewers to only “good cause” terminations (though the distributors themselves may very well fight for some type of good-cause requirement in contract negotiations).  Further, a brewer can terminate a distribution agreement if the wholesaler fails to meet a “commercially reasonable” sales goal or quota (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 25000.7), and many beer distribution agreements call for the distributor itself to come up with an annual business plan that establishes sales goals based on certain data.  Except in certain situations, a brewer does not need to pay FMV to terminate the relationship (though again, a distributor may insist on a termination payment as a contract term).  While a brewer is not automatically bound by contract to a purchaser or transferee of its distributor, the brewer cannot unreasonably withhold consent or deny approval of such a transfer without incurring certain charges (Cal. Bus. & Prof. Code § 25000.9).

In California, the parties must be attuned to several important issues in creating the agreement, such as territory, term, change in ownership and transfer rights, termination rights, terms of sale, commercially reasonable sales goals, post-termination provisions, intellectual property licensing and advertising issues, dispute resolution, and other rights and duties of the parties.  Such contract terms are just as important for a brewer as finding a distribution team that is the right “fit” for a growing brand.

Overall, it is no surprise that the states with the most friendly self-distribution and franchise laws are the states with the most active and diverse beer business communities.  For example, California now has around 900 active breweries, far more than any other state, adding over 500 breweries in the last two years alone.

Conkle, Kremer & Engel has experience representing both breweries and distributors.  If you are launching a brewery in California, looking to expand your brand’s sales through self-distribution or with a third-party distributor, or have found yourself in a distribution-related dispute, contact Conkle, Kremer & Engel for assistance with those and other beer industry-related issues.

16
NOV
0

Alcoholic Beverages, California Trade Regulations, Contracts, Business and Finance, Food, Craft Beer and Nutrition

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