Panel: General Cigar can use Cohiba name in the US

Posted on Thursday, 03.28.13

Panel: General Cigar can use Cohiba name in the US
The Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. -- A federal panel says General Cigar Co. Inc. can
continue using the Cohiba (co-HEE-ba) trademark on its cigars in the U.S.

The ruling is the latest in the nearly 16-year-old legal battle with
Cuba's state-run cigar company over the signature Cuban cigar brand.

The Richmond, Va.-based subsidiary of Swedish Match AB said Thursday
that the U.S. Trademark Trial and Appeal Board dismissed Cubatabaco's
petition asking it to cancel the company's trademark.

The panel ruled that because courts have held Cubatabaco can't sell
their cigars in the U.S, it has no standing to challenge the Cohiba
trademark in the country.

General Cigar says it has sold its Dominican Cohiba cigar in the U.S.
since the early 1980s. It received its first registration of the Cohiba
trademark in the U.S. in 1981.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/28/3311284/panel-general-cigar-can-use-cohiba.html#storylink=misearch