Cascadia Labs Joins OCP as its First Ever Chemotype Data Partner!
Because you can’t prototype a database without data, and you can’t run a nonprofit without donations
Open Cannabis Project (OCP) is pleased to officially announce our partnership with Cascadia Labs. Before we could even put out the word that we were looking to collaborate with labs producing potency and chemical data, Cascadia Labs CSO Jeremy Sackett reached out to our team and offered to be involved. Thanks to this initiative and leadership, OCP has been able to prototype the chemotype portion of the database, which you can see at data.opencannabisproject.org/chemotype. (Please note — it might take a moment to load. This is, after all, a prototype!)
The data listed comes from entries to Cultivation Classic in 2017 and 2018. Participants agreed to share their data with OCP, and now it’s online for the world to see! OCP and Cascadia Labs will be working together in the coming months to develop a way for more of their customers to opt in to sharing their data, so that the chemotype dataset can continue to grow.
Why is chemotype lab data important to discussions around patents? The answer can be seen in patents and patent applications on the cannabis plants. Take, for example, Claim 1 (of 16) from 9,095,554: Breeding, production, processing and use of specialty cannabis:
A hybrid cannabis plant, or an asexual clone of said hybrid cannabis plant, or a plant part, tissue, or cell thereof, which produces a female inflorescence, said inflorescence comprising: (a.) a B.sub.T/B.sub.D genotype; (b.) a terpene profile in which myrcene is not the dominant terpene; (c.) a terpene oil content greater than about 1.0% by weight; and (d.) CBD content greater than 3%; wherein the terpene profile is defined as terpinolene, alpha phelladrene, beta ocimene, careen, limonene, gamma terpinene, alpha pinene, alpha terpinene, beta pinene, fenchol, camphene, alpha terpineol, alpha humulene, beta caryophyllene, linalool, cary oxide, and myrcene […].
In other words, though what’s actually being patented are the genetics of these plants — as well as products made with and new plants bred from them — many patent descriptions focus on their chemical profiles. Thus, listing the chemical profiles of existing plants makes it more difficult to place patents on plants matching those descriptions.
Another key ingredient to the OCP dataset is the date that the testing took place and the date of publication, both of which are supported through sharing lab data. That’s because the patent office relies on information available to public, and the date that information becomes available is important for determining what existed, when. It’s not the be-all-end-all — after all, something had to exist prior to when the data was created. Also, whether it’s in the public domain or not may still be up for debate — the plant being referenced may be covered by trade secret laws. However, once this information is in the public domain, it becomes harder for someone to claim that they’re inventing a strain/cultivar that’s unique or new enough to warrant a patent.
The more data OCP can get, and the sooner we can get it, the better our chances are of thwarting patents that reach into the public domain and take plants out of it. A recent conversation with a patent examiner verified that there’s been an uptick in patent applications regarding cannabis plants, meaning that at this point we are in a race against time.
This is all the more reason that OCP is incredibly grateful to Cascadia Labs for donating this data, committing to helping us gather more data, and providing a financial contribution of $2,500. As a donation-based organization committed to getting this work done, these are the ingredients we need to fulfill our mission. Many thanks to our partner, Cascadia Labs!
//
Are you a lab who’s interested in becoming and OCP data partner? Reach out: info@opencannabisproject.org
Have questions about some of the legal concepts presented in this post? Check our our blog series, Into the Weeds, where we cover all things related to cannabis, patents, and open data.
Open Cannabis Project needs funding! If you are able to contribute financially, please make a donation. The future of cannabis IP is up to all of us.
