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Home > What's New > Habanos Gets 'Havana' Removed From Cigarillo Brand
Habanos Gets 'Havana' Removed From Cigarillo Brand
Posted: Monday, October 14, 2002
By James Suckling La Paz, one of Europe's most popular cigarillo brands, will no longer carry the name Havana on its products following an agreement announced Thursday between its manufacturer Swedish Match AB of Stockholm, Sweden, and the Havana firms Cubatabaco (Empresa Cubana del Tabaco) and Habanos S.A.
According to the agreement, Swedish Match will cease selling cigars under the "Wilde Havana" name as of December 31. Wilde Havana is a sub-brand of La Paz. Cigars previously sold under the brand name Wilde Havana will be sold worldwide under the brand name Wilde Cigarros.
"We have already sold the cigarillos under Wilde Cigarros in a number of markets and we have not seen any change in our sales," said Bo Aulin, senior vice president, secretary, and general counsel for Swedish Match. "We reached an amicable decision."
The agreement stems from a Belgium court's 2000 ruling that found Swedish Match infringed the copyright for the appellation Havana. The Swedish company and the Cubans have been in and out of court over the infringement since 1991. "We are happy that it's over," added Aulin.
Cubatabaco, Habanos and some of their distributors have launched several proceedings in different European countries against subsidiaries of Swedish Match, claiming that using a brand name including the term Havana, such as Wilde Havana, on cigars that are not made in Cuba with Cuban tobacco constitutes an infringement of the appellation of origin, said a press release Habanos issued on Thursday.
Swedish Match would not divulge the annual worldwide sales of Wilde Havana cigarillos, but millions of small machine-made cigars are produced each year at the company's factory in Houthalem, Belgium. The company said it would not change the way the cigars are made. "We certainly haven't changed our blend,"
said Aulin. "We kept 17 percent Cuban tobacco in the blend."
The Cubans stated in their release that "strengthened by such an agreement, Cubatabaco and Habanos S.A. will more than ever continue their fight against the few remaining infringers in order to make them stop using the appellation of
origin Habana and derivatives for cigars which are not manufactured in Cuba with Cuban tobacco only." Also in Cigar News:
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