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Cuba’s Habanos S.A. Requests Recognition at European Court.

By Juan Leandro
CUBA, May 19, 2011.- The Cuban enterprise Habanos S.A. has requested that the General Court of the European Union annul the Kiowa tobacco brand since it might bring about confusion with the Cuban brand Cohiba.

According to the website Cubadebate, the Brussels-based court held a hearing on the demand presented by Habanos S.A. against the EU’s Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) and against Tabacos de Centroamerica, the enterprise that sells Kiowa products.

Cubadebate reports that the Cuban enterprise challenged the OHIM’s decision to allow the sale in European markets of Kiowa cigars, cigarettes, small cigars and other products for smokers.

It adds that Habanos S.A. regretted the fact that the OHIM did not take into account the risk of confusion between these two brands and ignored the prestige of the Cuban product, which had been registered earlier.  The Cuban enterprise stated that both brands are similar in sound and design.

Habanos S.A., the leading company in the world in the sale of Premium cigars, is demanding “reinforced protection” in view of its worldwide prestige.  The company, founded in 1994, which commercializes all Cuban cigar brands, is present in the five continents, in more than 150 countries, and more than 90 percent of its global revenues come from international activities. (Cubaminrex-RHC)

http://www.habanos.com/article.aspx?aid=470&lang=en

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