The monopoly on the sales of exclusive hand-rolled Cuban cigars has gone
up in smoke.
Three appeal judges have ruled that it is legal for a company to import
the cigars direct from Cuba into the UK and Europe.
Appeal judge Lord Justice Jacob overturned a High Court ruling backing
the right of the monopoly supplier to prevent its cigars being imported
into Europe without consent.
The judge was critical of the use of trade mark laws to restrict imports
in Europe.
"I suppose nearly all members of the public would think that you cannot
infringe a trade mark if you are just selling the genuine goods of the
proprietor to which he has applied his trade mark," he said.
The EC had issued a directive describing a trade mark as a guarantee of
the origin of the product, he said.
"So the public would be surprised to know (and perhaps somewhat
resentful of the fact) that the law is such .... that traders cannot buy
them and import them for sale here, unless the trade mark owner has
consented.
The win by Mastercigars Direct Ltd could result in the price of the
cigars being cut by more than half in the UK.
The ruling comes as the latest stage in a long-running battle between
Mastercigars and Corporacion Habanos.
The latter is a Cuban joint venture company half owned by European
interests and half by a subsidiary of Tabacuba, the Cuban state tobacco
company.
Until today, Hunters and Frankau had exclusive rights under a 1990
agreement with Tabacuba to distribute the specialist cigars - in the UK
- Corporacion is now appealing to the highest court in the land, the
House of Lords.
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