Congress is key to uniformity---it’s their delegation.

Emerging cannabis businesses face significantly different hurdles compared to emerging businesses in other industries. Due to federal laws and administrative rulings, cannabis businesses cannot and do not enjoy the same patent and trademark advantages that emerging businesses in other industries enjoy.

These IP disadvantages mean that cannabis businesses must be mindful of their legal options and take advantage of these options in an effective and creative manner. Ideally, emerging cannabis businesses should utilize a combination of IP mechanisms to protect and build their brands as each confers different protections. When patenting is not a viable option, businesses can utilize ancillary and state trademarks, carefully protect trade secrets, and capitalize on branding techniques like the first-mover advantage. But given the cannabis industry's exponential growth, the federal government must remove the IP hurdles that emerging cannabis businesses face. Congress can and should act to faithfully execute its duty to "promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts" 207 and grant cannabis businesses rights enjoyed by other industries. The most obvious measure Congress can take is legalizing the cultivation, transportation, sale, and use of marijuana on a federal level. Such action would likely create uniform regulation throughout the country whereas currently marijuana law is a patchwork of state law.