Yesterday, Laura A. Labeots, Ph.D., J.D., posted an update on the significant changes to the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 on our Food & Agribusiness blog.

What does this post mean for the cannabis industry?

Since much of cannabis is asexually produced, it appears that marijuana and industrial hemp cultivators can utilize the Plant Variety Protection (PVP) certificate to exclude competitors from utilizing its genetics for hybrids. While we will closely monitor the industry’s ability to utilize the PVP certificate going forward, initially this looks like a viable mechanism to protect your intellectual property (IP) that was otherwise unprotectable a few weeks ago.