With the growing global trend to recognise cannabis as legal, it can only be a matter of time until various other cannabis products will be legalised too.

This is according to Donvay Wegierski, a director at Werksmans Attorneys, who pointed out that Canada recently became the first G-7 country allowing the legal consumption of recreational cannabis.

“Although the USA still regards the use and sale of cannabis as illegal under Federal Law, with nine states and Washington DC permitting the recreational use of cannabis, absolute prohibition in those states has effectively stopped. Benefits shown by the use of medical marijuana is a large contributor to this change,” she said.

In September 2018, the South African Constitutional Court ruled that certain provisions of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act and the Medicines and Related Substances Act are unconstitutional as they infringe upon the right to privacy in terms of Section 14 of the Constitution.

An adult may now possess and use cannabis in private for personal consumption in South Africa. However, South Africans may not sell or distribute cannabis as yet.

“The opportunities to create new brands for cannabis-based products are endless and so too should the requisite protection of intellectual property protection be in place in the territories and, in respect of trademarks, classes of relevance,” said Wegierski.

“Earlier this year, nearly 1,700 trademark applications and registrations could be found on the Canadian Trade Mark Database covering cannabis.

“In June 2019, it is anticipated that the requirement for “use” to secure trademark registration will be removed from the Canadian Trade Mark Law encouraging even more trademark filings.”

Regardless of the territory, two principles should be kept in mind when choosing a trademark said Wegierski:

The trademark should not be contrary to public policy (contra bonos mores) or likely to give offence to any class of persons; and

A trademark should not be descriptive of the kind of quality or other characteristics of the product.

Anyone looking to diversify into cannabis products would be well advised to identify their consumer, create their brand and file their trademarks before others do.

“Anyone looking to diversify into cannabis products would be well advised to identify their consumer, create their brand and file their trademarks before others do,” she said.

Read: Police ordered to stop arresting people for smoking weed: report