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Why did my US trademark receive a CSA refusal?

Written by Jan Buza

Co-founder of Trama

A CSA refusal means the examiner considers the goods covered by your application to involve a federally controlled substance. Even where a substance is legal under state law, it must be lawful in US interstate commerce to support a federal trademark registration.

The most common trigger is cannabis or CBD products. Hemp-derived CBD products containing less than 0.3% THC are federally legal under the 2018 Farm Bill; products above that threshold are not. If your goods fall below the federal THC threshold, evidence of that can support a response. If the goods are not compliant, federal trademark registration is not available and alternatives such as state trademark registration should be considered.

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