Presentation
The impending legalization of cannabis will increase the market value substantially. As a result, it is increasingly important that companies producing cannabis, cannabis products and devices seek to protect their Intellectual Property (IP) in Canada in order to increase their market share.
This session will focus on the protection of cannabis and related products through patents and Plant Breeders’ Rights(PBRs). A patent is a very important asset as it provides a monopoly to the owner to exclude others from making, using or selling the invention during the term of the patent, which is 20 years from the filing date. The session will discuss the types of cannabis related products that can be protected by patents. Plant Breeders’ Rights are also important as they give the cannabis breeder the exclusive rights to the propagating material of their novel cannabis variety for a period of 20 years including the right to sell, produce and reproduce, import and export propagating material of the variety as well as the right to authorize others to do the same. Both patents and PBRs have very specific timing requirements and missing critical deadlines can put your rights up in smoke.
