„Cuba“ and „Havana“ are not authorised for cigars made from non-Cuban tobaccos
Designations such as „Cuba“ and „Havana“ are not permitted for cigars made from non-Cuban tobaccos. A recent court judgement by Munich Regional Court confirms this once again. The court judgement concerns Germany.
Habanos S.A. lawsuit again successful in court
Following an action brought by Corporación Habanos S.A., the Munich Regional Court has once again confirmed in a recent judgement that „Cuba“ and „Havana“ and derivatives thereof are geographical indications of origin with a special reputation in relation to tobacco and cigars and may only be used in trade in Germany for cigars made from tobaccos that actually originate from Cuba.
Special meaning of „Cuba“ and „Havana“
According to the grounds of the judgement, the terms „Cuba“ and „Havana“ have a special meaning for the highest tobacco enjoyment from the famous island and therefore enjoy the extended trademark protection of geographical indications of source with a special reputation. As the court explained, the island and its capital Havana do not only stand for an attitude to life and are not only representative of cigar enjoyment.
Rather, these designations in relation to cigars and their components have a corresponding reputation in terms of quality due to the quality and selection of the processed tobaccos and due to the type of production. The buyer of such cigars - just like a considerable proportion of non-smokers - associates a particular prestige with the designations.
Cuban lakes etc. also inadmissible
The court deals in detail with designations such as „Cuban Seed“, “Piloto Cubano„ or “Habano wrapper" and considers these to be inadmissible even if cigars are produced outside the island with formerly Cuban seeds and possibly with comparable manual labour. This is because the court states that the special reputation of Cuban cigars is not only determined by the method of production or the place of origin of the tobacco seeds, but that the quality of the tobacco is also and in particular characterised by the regional growing conditions such as climate, rainfall and soil.
The so-called „terroir“ characterises the growing regions on the island regionally - and not personally. Also because tobacco is an annual plant, the quality is determined less by the origin of the seed and more by the local growing conditions.
In the opinion of the court, designations such as „Cuban Seed“, “Piloto Cubano„ or “Habano wrapper" unfairly impair this special reputation without justification.
In its grounds for judgement, the court also refers to previous case law and confirms this as a result. The judgement is not yet final.
Cuban seeds have not been exported for decades
We (5TH Avenue Products, editor's note) have long been convinced that references to alleged or supposedly original „Cuban seeds“ are of little help to cigar smokers. Tobaccos are annual plants and adapt strongly to soils and climatic conditions, with the same seed developing very different characteristics in different growing areas within a short period of time.
Genuine Cuban seeds have been bred exclusively for Cuban tobacco production for many decades and are not exported. Added to this are a unique tradition of craftsmanship and unrivalled knowledge of the secrets of the best cigars. There are many reasons for Cuba's special reputation for tobacco and cigars.
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Well, product descriptions such as „Piloto Cubano“ also tend to emphasise the quality of genuine Cuban tobacco in my view. For me, this says: „We are trying to get as close as possible to the Cuban qualities with this product, but it is not a Cuban product“. This even emphasises the quality of Cuban tobacco. For me, this is in no way misleading. I don't know of any non-Cuban cigar that is marketed as a Cuban cigar. Every supplier would know that there would then actually be injunctions. I therefore see the proceedings as completely superfluous, even counterproductive.
It concerns Germany. Cuba and Germany have some kind of agreement in which such designations are prohibited. The dramatic thing is that I already knew about another court judgement on the same matter in April 2020. Out of my quality mindset, I immediately informed all my customers that they urgently needed to correct their designations. Some did and some didn't (and the latter were unfortunately sued). Well, if you're ignorant, you'll end up under the hammer.
By the way, a marvellous picture from my 2nd home that you show there. The Valle de Viñales as I have never seen it before. Thank you very much!
Well, that makes me all the happier 🙂
That doesn't seem to work with the Americans, they can't protect Gruyère cheese either. These, sorry to say, scoundrels tailor the law to suit themselves, and the sad thing is that everyone goes along with it ...