Legal disputes in the cannabis industry are nothing new, although typically such disputes involve contract law, criminal law, employment law and, of course, municipal law. However, there is an area of law that is quickly gaining importance within the cannabis industry: intellectual property law. Recently there has been a deluge of patent infringement suits being brought within the industry, a trend that the authors of this article expect to continue in years to come.

Federal courts, when evaluating cases pertaining to businesses that operate within the cannabis industry, must grapple with what is known as the “illegality doctrine.” This doctrine states that courts will not assist a party in recovering “fruits of a crime,” and thus cannabis owners in violation of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) may be denied redress in federal courts. A few courts have tackled the issue head on, analyzing whether the conduct at issue actually violates the CSA and how the illegality doctrine applies to the particular area of law-at-issue.