Key points:
- A U.S. federal judge ruled in favor of Cuba’s state-owned tobacco company, Cubatabaco, canceling General Cigar Co.’s U.S. trademark for “Cohiba.”
- The decision upholds a 2022 ruling by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), citing Cuba’s prior trademark rights under international law.
- General Cigar Co. plans to appeal the decision and will continue selling its Cohiba-branded cigars in the U.S. during the appeals process.
In a significant development in a decades-long legal battle, a U.S. federal judge has ruled against General Cigar Co., canceling its U.S. trademark for the “Cohiba” brand and siding with Cuba’s state-owned tobacco company, Cubatabaco.
Judge Leonie M. Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia upheld the 2022 decision by the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB), which found that Cubatabaco held prior rights to the Cohiba trademark under the Inter-American Convention for Trademark and Commercial Protection, a treaty signed in 1929.
The court determined that Cubatabaco had established trademark rights in Cuba as early as 1972, predating General Cigar’s U.S. trademark registration in 1978. Evidence presented included a 1977 Forbes article mentioning the Cohiba brand as Fidel Castro’s preferred cigar, suggesting General Cigar was aware of the brand before filing for the U.S. trademark.
General Cigar Co., a subsidiary of Scandinavian Tobacco Group, has been producing and selling non-Cuban Cohiba cigars in the U.S., where Cuban cigars are prohibited due to the embargo, Halfwheel reports. Despite the ruling, the company announced plans to appeal the decision and stated that it would continue to manufacture and sell its Cohiba-branded cigars in the U.S. during the appeals process. The company emphasized that the ruling does not affect its common law trademark rights acquired through long-standing use in the U.S. market.
The Cohiba trademark dispute between General Cigar Co. and Cubatabaco has been ongoing since 1997, involving multiple legal proceedings over the years. This latest ruling marks a pivotal moment in the battle over one of the cigar industry’s most iconic brands.
