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 Cohiba Brand Trademark Dispute Site

The Cohiba trademark is claimed to be owned by Cuba-based Cubatabaco and General Cigar Company from the United States. 

This site covers the international trademark dispute over the Cohibas brand Cuban cigar trademark.  This site will post Casa del Habanos locations in Canada, Cuba, Europe, Russia and the Middle East along with General Cigar retail cigar store locations for their Cohibas brand trademark in an effort to aid consumers to find both brands of Cohiba cigars so they can participate in this forum of Cohiba brand cigars.

We are not covering other brands of Cuban cigars but it is fun to say Partagas, Romeo y Julieta and Monte Cristo.

Neither corporation owns this domain nor has any input into the content or management of the site. The owner of this domain and website is independent and not affiliated with either company in any way.

June 18, 2009

Excerpted from Cuban cigar article from Bloomberg by Mark Drajem:

Cuba lost the U.S. rights to Cohibas when General Cigar registered the brand in the 1970s. General Cigar has so far fended off a 1997 lawsuit brought by Cubatabaco to reclaim that name. A new ruling in the case may come within months.

General Cigar has spent more than $5 million lobbying Congress over the past eight years. It got lawmakers to strike a provision in a 2001 measure that it says would have allowed Cuba to barter cigars for food or medicine. Imperial began lobbying this year for the first time since at least 2000, spending an initial $30,000, according to Senate records.

General Cigar also hired Miller & Chevalier, a Washington law firm specializing in trade issues, to study how else it might slow the flow of Cuban imports if the embargo goes.

December 19, 2008: Rush Limbaugh had someone call in asking about buying Cuban cigars in the United States. The caller asked "When will it be legal to buy Cuban cigars?".

Rush said that he didn't think it would be any time soon because of the potential trademark disputes regarding Cuban cigar brands and those of similar named brands from the Dominican Republic, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Graphic courtesy of CigarAficionado.com

December 8, 2008: Federal Judge overturns the Cohiba brand trademark dispute and more information about the Cohiba red dot cigar brand vs. the Cuban Cohiba brand from StogieGuys.com

BY FRANCES ROBLES | Miami Herald

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the Cuban government's nine-year legal quest to snuff out that other Cohiba: the Dominican-made stogie sold by an American company.

The Supreme Court Monday let stand a New York appellate court ruling that the U.S. embargo prevents Cuba from obtaining a U.S. registry for its famous Cohiba trademark, cigars long favored by aficionados and even Fidel Castro until he stopped smoking years ago.

But the Cuban cigar company Cubatabaco says it's not giving up and will press the U.S. Department of Treasury for a license that would allow Cuba to register the trademark here. Since the embargo is the only legal obstacle for Cuba, the Treasury license would give Havana grounds to re-launch its court battle, Cubatabaco attorney David Goldstein said.

Although most people think of Cohiba as a Cuban cigar first made in 1966, a stogie by the same name has been manufactured in the Dominican Republic and sold in the United States dating back 25 years. It is the only Cohiba that's legal to buy in the United States.

General Cigar Co. first registered the Cohiba name in the United States in 1981. But cigar sales were lackluster back then, and the company did little with the famed name.

All that changed in 1992, when Cigar Aficionado magazine extolled the wonders of the Cuban Cohiba. General Cigar quickly filed to renew its trademark and in 1997 -- with the cigar business booming -- rolled out a new campaign plugging its own Cohibas made from Dominican leaves.

''We had that brand for more than 20 years, and Cuba didn't say a word,'' said General Cigar spokeswoman Victoria McKee. ``They are two different cigars.''

General Cigar uses a logo with a red dot in the O of Cohiba, an emblem different from the well-known yellow and black checker board used by the Cuban company.

But the Cuban cigar company cried foul, saying General Cigar was deliberately trying to trick consumers into thinking they were smoking the famous Cuban cigars.

'We acted in good faith at all times,' said General Cigar attorney Ignacio Sanchez.

Cubatabaco sued General Cigar Co. in 1997 in a New York federal court. The Cubans argued that Cohiba's famous name should trump General Cigar's trademark registration. A New York federal judge agreed in 2004 and ordered General Cigar to quit using the name. But General Cigar successfully appealed on the embargo argument.

''General Cigar intentionally exploited the Cohiba theme, and the trial judge agreed,'' Goldstein said. ``We will continue to pursue our application for a license.''

The Cubans say the United States has a broad obligation to protect ''well-known'' trademarks under the Paris Convention and other treaties.

The company added that hundreds of American companies have more than 5,000 trademarks registered in Cuba, in spite of the U.S. sanctions.

Recently, Habanos filed a Notice of Opposition against a cigar lighter maker for using the Havana. Habanos is claiming that the word Havana means cigar.

Please email me at  if you have any more information from Habanos SA or General Cigar regarding the legal battle over the Cohiba brand trademark dispute and we will post it here.