Judge: Woodstock music festival can license its name to pot
A judge says the owners of the Woodstock music festival name can license it to create a marijuana brand marking the 50th anniversary of the famed gathering.
U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe rejected a claim that the deal would infringe on the name of another company, Woodstock Roots.
Gardephe concluded the nature of the planned Woodstock-branded recreational marijuana and a competitor's cannabis-related smoking paraphernalia are different.
Woodstock Ventures, which produced the 1969 Woodstock festival in New York, and Woodstock Roots sued each other in 2018. Woodstock Roots does business as Woodstock American Products.
Woodstock Ventures argued recreational marijuana falls within its “natural zone of expansion” under federal trademark law. It is working on a deal with a major marijuana dispensary.
Woodstock Roots lawyers did not return emails seeking comment.
St. Kitts and Nevis Introduce Adult-Use Marijuana Legalization Bill
Leaders in the dual-island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis introduced new legislation on Tuesday aimed at legalizing marijuana for “medicinal and scientific, religious and recreational purposes,” according to the Office of the Prime Minister.
“This is a major legislative achievement of the Team Unity administration, which has done in less than five years what could not be done in 20 years,” reads a statement released July 29, 2019, by the Caribbean nation's government.
The move comes almost six months after a government-appointed National Marijuana Commission recommended that the country's Drugs Act of 1986 be amended to take into consideration the latest research on the benefits of cannabis. Among its proposals, the commission supported legalizing the use of marijuana and its derivatives for medicinal and scientific purposes, decriminalizing possession of 15 grams of cannabis or less and the expungement of criminal records for people convicted for similar amounts.
In response, lawmakers introduced the Cannabis Bill 2019 in May to create the necessary framework to allow for the cultivation and use of marijuana in St. Kitts and Nevis.
At the time, Prime Minister Timothy Harris lauded his administration's ability to “cut across the three broad gamut that had been the subject of discussion regionally and elsewhere with respect to the issues to do with marijuana,” referring to its medicinal, for religious and recreational uses. He also called the bill “a reformist and enlightened piece of legislation that appropriately responds to the popular will of our population.”
Ohio Governor Signs Hemp Legalization Bill
Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has signed a bill that allows for the cultivation of industrial hemp and legalizes the manufacture and sale of CBD products derived from the plant.
Ohio's leading farm group applauded the signing of the bill July 30, 2019, by DeWine.
The Ohio Farm Bureau says industrial hemp will give farmers another crop option and a potential revenue stream that could offset “years of declining commodity prices.”
Hemp contains only trace amounts of the THC found in cannabis. Cannabidiol (CBD) products, which are touted for their therapeutic effects, can contain up to 0.3% THC under federal law. The federal government legalized hemp cultivation in 2018.
Ohio's Department of Agriculture must create rules for a hemp program before farmers can begin planting.
Featured Image: Woodstock Ventures, which produced the 1969 New York festival that was a cultural touchstone of the 1960s, was cleared to license the Woodstock name for a line of marijuana by a federal district judge. (Photo by Haley Lawrence on Unsplash)
