In July of 2018, United Cannabis Corporation (“UCANN”) filed an infringement action against Pure Hemp Collective (“Pure Hemp”) in the United States District Court District of Colorado. UCANN alleged that Pure Hemp sold several cannabis products that infringed UCANN’s U.S. Patent1, which claims various liquid formulations of enriched extracts of plant cannabinoids. Pure Hemp filed an early motion for partial summary judgment seeking to invalidate the claims of the patent as directed to ineligible subject matter under 35 U.S.C. §101. The Court applied the two-part Alice test and denied the motion, finding no indication that the precise concentrations of cannabinoids and related chemicals form in nature in liquid form. Thus, the court found the claims were not directed to an unpatentable law of nature, a natural phenomenon, or an abstract idea. The case was ultimately dismissed with prejudice before validity of the patent was determined on the merits.
