Crediting the CBD company’s forthrightness, a federal judge in New York federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit against Massachusetts-based Curaleaf from investors who argued the company misled them about legality of its CBD products.

The investors sued when Curaleaf’s share price fell in 2019 after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration sent the company a warning letter for claiming its CBD products could treat a variety of diseases.

The suit was among a raft of class-action lawsuits in the past three years challenging CBD makers for allegedly misleading investors and making unfounded medical claims. The Curaleaf case was filed shortly after the FDA sent Curaleaf a warning letter.

Judge Brian M. Cogan said in his ruling Tuesday that Curaleaf “publicly and repeatedly acknowledged” in its stock listing statement that the FDA had not yet approved its CBD products for any medical purpose. Cogan said the company also noted it could be subject to enforcement action for “promotion of an unapproved drug.”

“The company clearly disclosed the risk that the FDA could act against it and that the FDA had done so to other companies selling similar products,” Cogan said.

“Describing this risk in terms of potentiality rather than certainty – when certainty of enforcement could not be known anyway – does not violate securities law.”

Law360 first reported on the decision.

After the FDA’s letter to Curaleaf on July 22, 2019, the company discontinued many of the products regulators cited, and removed some of the claims it made about its products.

Investors contended that the company did not explicitly say its products were illegal, but the judge rebuffed their argument.

“There is no requirement that a company disclose its risk in any magic words preferred by plaintiffs,” the judge said in the ruling.

An attorney for the investors told Law360 they were evaluating their next steps.

The case was filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.

“We look forward to focusing on the company’s growth and continuing to serve our customers and patients nationwide,” Curaleaf said in a statement after Cogan’s ruling.

Curaleaf also sells high-THC marijuana products in states where they are legal. Cogan also noted Curaleaf’s forthrightness on its THC business activities.

Caraleaf told investors in a 2018 Canadian filing that it “will derive a substantial portion of its revenues from the cannabis industry in certain states of the United States, which industry is illegal under United States federal law.”

An executive from international CBD brand Elixinol has been appointed to the board of directors at the U.S. Hemp Authority — one of the industry’s self-regulatory bodies.

“From the start, Elixinol has gone above and beyond when it comes to product efficacy and transparency,” Elixinol CEO for the Americas Tom Siciliano said about his appointment.

“Our involvement with the Authority further solidifies our commitment to quality and higher standards.”

Siciliano recently served as president of Nutritional High International Inc., a marijuana manufacturing and distribution company, and as president and CFO for Canna Security America.

Prior to his work in the cannabis industry, Siciliano worked at startup companies, private equity firms and public Fortune 500 companies.

Siciliano’s appointment is part of the Hemp Authority’s advocacy partnership with the U.S. Hemp Roundtable, where Siciliano is also a board member.

A Swiss CBD company is accusing e-cigarette maker Juul of infringing on one of its patents.

SwissX alleges in a lawsuit that Juul pods copy a nicotine vapor delivery system that SwissX bought the rights to last year, according to Law 360. The lawsuit was filed in Delaware federal court.

SwissX, which is owned by billionaire Alki David, alleges in the lawsuit that Juul has known about the patent since at least March 2018.

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued the patent in May 2016 to inventor Robert Safari, who assigned it SwissX. The patented system combines an e-liquid chamber and vaporization chamber into a single component.

Clint Eastwood has filed a third lawsuit alleging CBD companies are falsely claiming he’s endorsing their products.

The legal action is the second the legendary actor has filed against Los Angeles-based Norok Innovation Inc. and its CEO Eric Popowicz but includes a different set of defendants, according to Law 360, which first reported the case.

“Like many of his most famous characters, Mr. Eastwood is not afraid to confront wrongdoing and hold accountable those that try to illegally profit off his name,” the lawsuit filed in California federal court says. It accuses Norok and other entities of hiding his name in metadata tags to draw online traffic to their CBD stores.

“With rare exception, Mr. Eastwood reserves the exploitation of his personality rights and the goodwill associated therewith for his motion pictures and other entertainment related projects, and for business ventures in which he is personally involved,” Eastwood’s attorneys say in the lawsuit.

Eastwood sued Norok and Popowicz in July but voluntarily dropped the lawsuit in November. That lawsuit made similar allegations.

In a separate lawsuit filed last summer, Eastwood accuses three other CBD companies of creating articles and emails that portrayed him as an endorser of their products. That lawsuit is still pending in California federal court.

Dallas-based Generation Hemp Inc. has acquired a processing company in Kentucky with a 48,000-square-foot facility for $5.1 million.

The acquisition of Halcyon Thruput LLC  will be payable in $2.5 million of restricted common stock, $1.75 million in cash and a $870,000 promissory note, Generation Hemp said Tuesday. Generation Hemp will also take over $1 million in existing debt.

Halcyon Thrutput processes harvested hemp directly from the field and wet-baled hemp at the company’s facility in Hopkinsville, Kentucky.

“The drying services technology greatly increases efficiency and capacity during harvest for farmers who need to quickly move harvested hemp while preserving the cannabinoid potency,” according to Generation Hemp.

The facility can process about 4,000 wet pounds per hour.

Molson Coors Beverage Co. says it has launched CBD drinks in Colorado through TRUSS CBD USA, its joint venture with HEXO Corp.

The beverage line will be available in three flavors – Grapefruit Tarragon, Strawberry Hibiscus and Blueberry Lavender under the name, “Verywell,” Molson Coors and HEXO said Wednesday.

The companies first partnered in 2018 to launch beverages in Canada through another joint venture called Truss Beverages, which sells non-alcoholic cannabis-infused drinks.

“Our joint venture with Molson Coors Canada saw Truss Beverage Brands become the No. 1 choice for consumers in Canada, and we are expecting similarly great results in the U.S.,” said HEXO CEO and co-founder Sebastien St-Louis.

Production and distribution for the Colorado CBD beverages will be kept within state lines because Colorado is one of the few states with an established regulatory framework for hemp-derived CBD in food and beverages, the companies previously said.

The companies did not elaborate on where in Colorado the drinks would be sold. Pete Marino, president of the emerging growth division for Molson Coors, told Bloomberg that Colorado will be a testing ground for the new brand.

Molson Coors trades on the New York Stock Exchange as TAP. Hexo Corp. trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange as HEXO.

GenCanna, a Kentucky hemp and CBD company that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February, has dropped a suit against CBD company Medterra for unpaid invoices worth $4.5 million.

GenCanna, now known as OGGUSA Inc., had sued Medterra last month, alleging that the latter failed to pay for shipments of CBD extracts and other products it accepted, Law360 reported.

The complaint said Medterra was on the hook for more than a dozen unpaid invoices dating back to June 2019. The biggest bill, for a shipment of crystaline CBD, came in at just under $3 million.

The lawsuit was dropped on Dec. 30, court documents show.

According to the Law360 report, GenCanna said the lawsuit was “based on a misconstruction of facts and circumstances” and that the company had resolved the dispute, saying in a statement it would cooperate with Medterra as “long-term partners.”

The company declined to comment further, the report said.