Litigation

If you were curious about the costs of FDA regulation on premium cigars, we now have an idea of one piece of the regulations. The government remains opposed to any refunds of user fees.

The eight-year-old lawsuit between three cigar trade groups and the FDA had its latest court room battle. In the hour-long hearing, the questions seemed to favor the cigar position that the FDA regulations should not apply to “premium cigars.”

Today, July 15, is the eight year anniversary of the filing of the lawsuit. Its next chapter will take place in a D.C. court room in September. Update: We now know the judges assigned to the case.

Earlier this year, a company associated with Warped sued Esteban Carreras for trademark infringement. Last month, the two parties told a federal court that lawsuit had been settled.

Late last year, Gurkha filed a trademark lawsuit over Davidoff’s Limited Edition 2024 Year of the Dragon cigar. The two sides are also fighting a related legal dispute at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

While this case does not explicitly affect cigars, if FDA and HHS lose this case, it would accelerate a decision about whether to ban flavored cigars. Currently, that decision is on an indefinite hold.

While Davidoff has gotten one of four counts removed, the case will continue.

Next up: oral arguments.

In 2020, Habanos S.A. asked a Munich court to prevent other companies from using terms like cubano and habano to describe cigars or the tobacco inside of them.

The legal battle over premium cigar regulations continues.

FDA is once again getting sued for not banning tobacco products quickly enough. Of note, technically, this lawsuit only applies to the menthol cigarette ban and not the flavored cigar ban.