LONDON -- Big Tobacco’s legal challenge against the U.K.’s plain-packaging laws kicked off Thursday in a hearing that involves arguments about trademark protection and property deprivation, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
British American Tobacco PLC, Imperial Tobacco Group PLC, Japan Tobacco International and Philip Morris International Inc. are presenting legal challenges against plain packaging in London’s High Court in a high-stakes six-day hearing that could set a precedent for other countries in Europe to strip branding from cigarette packs, the report said.
The U.K. parliament in March voted to ban branding on cigarette packs as of May 2016. Cigarettes would be sold in uniform packs stripped of distinctive logos and colors, and adorned with graphic health warnings.
Similar moves are afoot elsewhere, with France recently passing legislation to require plain packaging starting in May. Australia, Ireland and Hungary have also passed plain-packaging laws; a BAT lawsuit against Australia in 2012 was unsuccessful. A total of 20 countries are looking at plain-packaging regulation, according to Wells Fargo analyst Bonnie Herzog. The U.S.’ free-speech laws make plain-packaging legislation all but impossible here.
In the U.K., the six-day hearing will include arguments about how plain packaging breaches the trademark and intellectual-property rights enshrined in European Union law. Tobacco companies are also reaching back to a British legal precedent that has its roots in 1765 that says the government can’t deprive people of their property without appropriate compensation.
Click here to read the complete WSJ account.
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