U.S. Patent No. D798,739 was issued for “Cannabis Storing Container with Individual Tear Off Lids,” a design patent, on October 3, 2017. It was issued to Brian K. Reaux. The invention is actually the ornamental features of an adhesive lid covering the container, and not the container itself.
Patents are issued for:
subject matter which is claimed is the design embodied in or applied to an article of manufacture and not the article itself[1] . . . . 35 U.S.C. §171 refers, not to the design of an article, but to the design for an article, and is inclusive or ornamental designs of all kinds including surface ornamentation as well as configuration of goods.
(Emphasis added.)[2]
Note that the dotted lines in the drawing figure indicates that it is not part of the design to be protected. This would constitute the actual container. The container, as indicated by the inventor, could be used to store cannabis hemp, oil, or buds. Also, note that this is for a design patent – protection of how an article looks, as opposed to the way an article works, which is its function, and is protected by a utility patent.[3]
As evidenced above, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is issuing patents to cannabis-related inventions. D798,739 is a very recent example of this.
[1] See Ex parte Cady, 1916 C.D. 62, 232 O.G. 621 (Comm’r Pat. 1916).
[3] See MPEP 1502.01.