Fred leads Harris Sliwoski’s intellectual property practice and is the coordinator of the firm’s international team. Much of Fred’s practice consists of helping cannabis businesses protect their brands. He also works with entrepreneurs and companies entering the Web3 space, a new frontier for IP law. Prior to joining Harris Sliwoski, Fred worked overseas for more than a decade, in both government and private sector roles. Fred is a regular contributor to the award-winning China Law Blog and Canna Law Blog.
Fred began his career overseas as a U.S. consular officer in Guangzhou, China, where he advocated for fairer treatment of American companies and citizens in China and for stronger intellectual property rights enforcement. After entering the private sector, Fred worked at a Shanghai law firm as a foreign legal advisor and later joined one of the oldest American law firms in China, helping foreign companies navigate the Chinese legal environment. He also led the legal team at a Hong Kong-based brand protection consultancy, spending most of his time out in the field, protecting clients against counterfeiters and fraudsters in Greater China, Southeast Asia and Latin America.
In addition to his IP work, as a native Spanish speaker, Fred works closely with different Harris Sliwoski teams on Latin America and Spain matters. Fred also provides advice to cannabis industry participants and other businesses on import and export transactions.
Fred is an ardent supporter of FC Barcelona—and would be even in the absence of Catalan forebears who immigrated to Puerto Rico in the mid-1800s.
Jamaica is establishing itself as a global psilocybin leader. It surprises many people to learn that psilocybin has never been prohibited in the Caribbean nation and is not one of the controlled substances listed in Jamaica’s Dangerous Drugs Act. Over the past few years, we’ve fielded a number of inquiries in and around prospective and
Florida Rep. Michael Grieco’s decision not to seek a new legislative term could negatively impact efforts to advance the legal use of psychedelics in the Sunshine State. The representative has been the most vocal advocate for psychedelics reform in the Florida Legislature. In 2021, Grieco filed a bill (HB 549) that would have legalized the
Importing drug paraphernalia is illegal under the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA). However, the expansive definition of “drug paraphernalia” can complicate the understanding of what items fit into this category. Federal agencies, particularly U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), consider many factors when determining if a particular item is unlawful or not. Importers of psychedelic-related products need
In April of this year, Florida’s first attempt at psychedelics reform failed, as a House subcommittee rejected HB 549. This bill, introduced by Rep. Michael Grieco (D-Miami Beach), would have legalized the use of psilocybin for mental treatment in the nation’s third most populous state. Despite this setback, 2021 could yet be a pivotal year
Can companies in the psychedelic space register their trademarks, for psychedelics themselves? This is a question that often comes up, given U.S. trademark law’s requirement that marks be lawfully used in commerce as a precondition to registration. In recent times, many trademark applications filed by cannabis businesses have been refused on lawful-use grounds, though this
