Jihee Ahn, Author at Harris Bricken

Jihee Ahn

Jihee is an experienced complex commercial litigator in Harris Bricken’s Portland office. She represents clients in business, intellectual property, and real estate matters. Having worked extensively in both federal and state courts, Jihee advises her clients from case intake through arbitration and trial.

Cannabis Litigation: How Effective Are Motions to Dismiss?

Last month, I wrote this post on the latest development in the trademark infringement lawsuit filed by Veritas Fine Cannabis (“VFC”) against Veritas Farms. Unfortunately for VFC, Magistrate Judge Michael E. Hegarty had issued a recommended order that the Court grant Veritas Farms’ motion to dismiss – and to dismiss the claims with prejudice (meaning,

Patent Infringement Indemnification: Do You Have It?

Last week, a major cannabis brand was sued for patent infringement by Geographic Location Innovations (“GLI”) in the District Court of Colorado. The Complaint alleges GLI is the owner of the ‘285 Patent, titled “Device, System and Method for Remotely Entering, Storing and Sharing Addresses for a Positional Information Device,” which among other things, allows

California Cannabis Litigation: Who Should Be Sued?

Our litigation team has experience representing both plaintiffs and defendants in the cannabis industry, and one issue we commonly see is whether an individual is rightfully sued along with his/her business. For example, in a breach of contract action, do you sue the company AND its owners, managers, members? What do you do if you’re

Recommended Order Clarifies Not All Marijuana Businesses Should Be Denied Trademark Protection

Last summer, we reported on the trademark infringement lawsuit filed by Veritas Fine Cannabis (“VFC”) against Veritas Farms here and here. In late August, I had reported Veritas Farms filed a motion to dismiss on the basis VFC does not actually possess the common law federal trademarks it seeks to enforce. Since the motion was

Cannabis Litigation: An Introduction to California’s Anti-SLAPP Statute

As I mentioned in my last post, litigation claims continue to evolve and expand in the cannabis industry, and we’ve noticed substantial interest in defamation claims. In follow up, here a primer on California’s anti-SLAPP statute, codified at Code of Civil Procedure, section 425.16. Subsection (a) outlines its purpose: “The Legislature finds and declares that

California Cannabis Claims: Defamation

Last year, we had a mini-series on the blog that covered the five most common causes of action we were seeing in the cannabis industry (links to the series are at the bottom of this post). In follow up, we’ve been getting quite a number of consultation requests or questions from existing clients about another

California Agencies Win Discovery Stay in Hemp Destruction Dispute

Back in April 2020, Apothio sued the County of Kern and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, alleging that in October 2019, state and county law enforcement agents entered its farm fields and ordered the destruction of 500 acres of hemp crops worth approximately $1 billion. Apothio claims the agencies’ search warrant was defective

California Cannabis Litigation in 2021 – Back to Discovery

Back in June, I wrote this post about the nearly stalled status of litigation since the pandemic began. While some courts are still incredibly backlogged (and, will give priority to criminal cases once they bear any semblance of “back to normal”), other courts have been surprisingly quick to adopt new procedures and technology in the

Cannabis Patents: Which Type is Right for You?

It’s been a little while since we’ve talked about patent protection on the blog, but a recent consultation reminded me a primer on the different types of patents potentially available could be beneficial. Here in the United States, there are three broad categories of patents, all of which are governed by the Patent Act (or

The Supreme Court Hears Oral Arguments in TCPA Showdown

We’ve been covering the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) extensively on this blog, and cannabis TCPA litigation in particular. Cannabis Litigation: TCPA Claims TCPA Claims: Will the Supreme Court Come to the Rescue? Curaleaf Meets the TCPA Prepare Your Cannabis Business for the TCPA Amy Coney Barrett’s Thoughts on the TCPA Last week, the Supreme