(Photo Credit - Flickr)

United Cannabis Corporation (OTC:CNAB) just announced that they will be "expanding protection of its intellectual properties, and National Stage applications" based on their existing international patent application (PCT/US2015/056635).

As the 056635 application was filed on November 21st, 2015 and claims priority back to applications filed as early as October 21st, 2014, this announcement can only mean that United Cannabis Corp. has chosen to enter the National Phase in a handful of nations. 

To those unfamiliar with the process for obtaining world-wide patent protection, the most common method of obtaining patent protection in multiple nations is through the filing of a patent application under the "Patent Cooperation Treaty" or "PCT."

When a PCT application is filed, a "dummy" application is placed on file with an appropriate receiving office, typically the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the European Patent Office, or the International Bureau at the World Intellectual Property Organization.

After this initial application is filed, applicants have roughly 30 months to decide which countries, if any, they would like to seek patent protection in. When the inventor decides to enter specific nations, the application enters the "National Phase", as mentioned in the press release.

While not all nations are signatories to the PCT, 145 nations are, including the 15 nations mentioned in the press release. By entering the National Phase, United Cannabis Corp. has formally filed applications in those 15 nations, which are all "child" applications of the '635 application.

As for the patent application itself, United Cannabis Corp. is attempting to gain protection over extracts comprising a mixture of 95% total cannabinoids, and at least one terpene or flavonoid, where the 95% cannabinoid portion of the extract contains at least four of the following cannabinoids: THCa, CBDa, CBNa, CBCa, THC, CBN, CNB, and CBC. The patent also seeks protection over formulations of the above extract couple with medium chain triglyceride, as well as a method of preparing the above extract.

The exact scope of United Cannabis' protection over these technologies has yet to be determined, but it will be interesting to see how each of those 15 nations will treat United Cannabis' proposed claim language, especially given the subject matter of the application.

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D/M/O

About the Author: Matthew G. Miller, Esq. is Principal and Patent Attorney at MG Miller Intellectual Property Law LLC. Matt received formal training in chemistry at the University of Chicago, is very passionate about innovations in high technology, and is an amateur computer programmer. He uses this combination to develop creative, effective, and efficient intellectual property portfolios.