Rothmans Benson & Hedges Inc. v. Imperial Tobacco Products Limited
Imperial Tobacco applied for a trademark on the use of the color orange on cigarette packaging. This decision by the Court of Appeal upheld an earlier ruling finding that, in principle, a color can be registered as a trademark. Despite objections by another tobacco company, the court found that the color had in fact been used in product packaging by Imperial and that the trademark application accurately depicted the trademarks despite health warnings that also appear on the package.
Rothmans, Benson & Hedges, Inc. v. Imperial Tobacco Products Limited, 2015 FCA 111 (2015).
Some jurisdictions allow an individual or organization to initiate an action against another private party who is not following a particular law. For example, a person may sue a restaurant that allows smoking despite a smoke free law. If the plaintiff is claiming the violation of the law caused physical harm, this may also be a personal injury case.
Measures to regulate the marketing on tobacco packages. This includes both bans on false, misleading, deceptive packaging, as well as required health warnings on packaging.
(See FCTC Art. 11)
Regulations may infringe on intellectual property rights, which may be protected by international treaties. The industry may argue that bans on "deceptive" packaging that eliminate the use of colors, numbers or trademarks threaten intellectual property rights.
Type of Tobacco Product
None
Limitations regarding the use of quotes The quotes provided here reflect statements from a specific decision. Accordingly, the International Legal Consortium (ILC) cannot guarantee that an appellate court has not reversed a lower court decision which may influence the applicability or influence of a given quote. All quotes have been selected based on the subjective evaluations undertaken by the ILC meaning that quotes provided here may not accurately or comprehensively represent a given court’s opinion or conclusion, as such quotes may have originally appeared alongside other negative opinions or accompanying facts. Further, some quotes are derived from unofficial English translations, which may alter their original meaning. We emphasize the need to review the original decision and related decisions before authoritatively relying on quotes. Using quotes provided here should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter in any jurisdiction. Please see the full limitations at https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/about.
"In discussing subsection 30(b), in my view the Board also dealt with the issue of whether or not the respondent’s actual use of the colour orange on its packaging as of 2006 constitutes use of Marks 127 and 128 per se as trade-marks. Although the Board does not expressly address all the specific points raised by the appellant before us, as these were not argued before it, on a fair reading of her reasons, it is clear that it turned its mind to these issues and addressed them in substance at paras. 42 and 46 of its reasons. It refers to relevant evidence submitted by the respondent and in particular how it had notified the public that the colour orange was used as its trade-mark, and it refers to the impact of other marks and material (particularly, the warnings) used on the packaging. On my reading, it was satisfied that the public would perceive the applied-for marks per se as trade-marks and that the evidence demonstrated use of those trademarks per se by the respondent. In para. 46, the Board also noted that the appellant adduced no evidence to support its allegation that the marks were merely ornamental."
Limitations regarding the use of quotes The quotes provided here reflect statements from a specific decision. Accordingly, the International Legal Consortium (ILC) cannot guarantee that an appellate court has not reversed a lower court decision which may influence the applicability or influence of a given quote. All quotes have been selected based on the subjective evaluations undertaken by the ILC meaning that quotes provided here may not accurately or comprehensively represent a given court’s opinion or conclusion, as such quotes may have originally appeared alongside other negative opinions or accompanying facts. Further, some quotes are derived from unofficial English translations, which may alter their original meaning. We emphasize the need to review the original decision and related decisions before authoritatively relying on quotes. Using quotes provided here should not be construed as legal advice and is not intended to be a substitute for legal counsel on any subject matter in any jurisdiction. Please see the full limitations at https://www.tobaccocontrollaws.org/about.
Imperial Tobacco applied for a trademark on the use of the color orange on cigarette packaging. This decision by the Court of Appeal upheld an earlier ruling finding that, in principle, a color can be registered as a trademark. Despite objections by another tobacco company, the court found that the color had in fact been used in product packaging by Imperial and that the trademark application accurately depicted the trademarks despite health warnings that also appear on the package.