United States

In 1998, litigation brought by several states against various tobacco manufacturers was resolved by a master settlement agreement (MSA), which, in part, prohibited using cartoons or causing cartoons to be used for the purpose of promoting tobacco products.  In 2007, a state government sought to enforce this provision of the MSA by filing contempt charges against a tobacco manufacturer running a "Camel Farm" promotional campaign.  The government argued that the promotional campaign utilized cartoons and that the manufacturer caused cartoons to be used in the editorial content created by the magazine enveloped within the magazine advertisement.  The trial court held that the promotional campaign itself did not utilize cartoons but that the cartoons featured within the integrated editorial content violated the MSA.  On appeal, the Court reexamined the allegations pertaining to the editorial content only.  The Court overturned the trial court decision, holding that the editorial cartoons did not violate the MSA as the tobacco manufacturer had not affirmatively caused the use of the cartoons.