Currently, seven of Canada’s top ten cannabis patent holders are major multi-national pharmaceutical companies, according to a joint research project by Washington D.C.-based New Frontier Data and London-based cannabis bio-technology firm, Grow Biotech. The list includes Ciba-Geigy AG (Switzerland) with 21 patents; Pfizer Products (United States) with 14; and Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (Sweden) with 13. Merck Sharp and Dohme Corporation, the fourth largest pharmaceutical company in the world, has 11 cannabis-related patents, and recently announced a partnership to pursue collaborations with Intec Pharma Ltd., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that has developed a propriety oral drug delivery system for delivery of CBD and THC in treating pain. This got me wondering: why are the mega companies choosing to file their cannabis patents in Canada as opposed to the United States?
They’re probably heading there because it proves to be cheaper and quicker to obtain cannabis patents in Canada. Given how rapidly the cannabis industry is evolving, obtaining patents in the cannabis field first presents several advantages (such as being able to assert your patents against competitors or using your patents with definitive claims to improve your negotiation position during business transactions).
One thing to note is that in Canada, certain subject matter is excluded from patentability. One major example: plants. Plants are not patentable in Canada because its laws provide that “higher life forms” (which includes plants and animals) are not patentable subject matter. In contrast, a cell of a higher life form, methods of making higher life forms, as well as use of a higher life form, may constitute patentable subject matter. So, in order for a breeder or grower to obtain a patent, they must be able to show that the new cannabis cultivar can be identified by technical features (like genetic modifications).
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