Cubatabaco Gets US Firm’s ‘Cohiba’ Trademark Axed Under Treaty

Cubatabaco secured cancellation of “Cohiba” US trademark registrations that a US company acquired amid sanctions against Cuba in the latest turn of a quarter-century cigar trademark battle.

General Cigar Co., which registered its first Cohiba mark in 1981, failed to convince the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board that the question of who could register the marks in the US had been settled by an appellate court in 2000. Empresa Cubana Del Tabaco, known as Cubatabaco, successfully argued that the cases cited by General Cigar addressed different questions regarding an international treaty protecting foreign marks.

The precedential opinion leaves neither Cubatabaco ...