‘Cohiba’ Cigar Trademark Cancellation Endorsed by Federal Court

A trademark tribunal’s cancellation of a US company’s “Cohiba” trademark registration doesn’t violate the US embargo on Cuba, a Virginia federal court ruled, the latest turn in a decades-old fight over cigar branding.

In a case that’s ping ponged across multiple district and appellate courts, Empressa Cubana del Tabaco—known as Cubatabaco—convinced the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in 2022 to cancel General Cigar Co.'s registration. The board acted within its authority under a trademark exception to the US Treasury Department’s Cuban Assets Control Regulations, or CACR, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia said, dismissing General Cigar’s ...