SPOKANE – Philip Morris USA, the nation’s biggest cigarette maker, is suing one of the smallest, a logging company owner on the Yakama Indian Reservation, over a cigarette pack closely resembling that of Marlboro.
Philip Morris, based in Richmond, Va., filed the case Monday in U.S. District Court against Delbert Wheeler Sr., owner of Wheeler Logging in White Swan, who last year began making and selling cigarettes to retailers on the central Washington reservation under the name King Mountain Tobacco Co.
“We value our brands and we’ll take necessary measures to protect them,” said Philip Morris spokesman Mike Neese.
Wheeler didn’t return phone calls Thursday from the Yakima Herald-Republic.
His packs show a white mountain against a red backdrop, the same colors as on Marlboro packs, with a similar layout and typography.
According to the lawsuit, the resemblance is so close that in one case a cashier gave a customer who asked for Marlboro a pack of King Mountain – and the customer didn’t realize he had the wrong brand until he got sick after smoking them.
In other cases, according to the court filing, the packaging similarities have caused consumers to believe the two companies are affiliated.
In the lawsuit, Philip Morris asked that King Mountain be barred from using such similar packaging, pay unspecified damages – including profits from using Marlboro-style packaging – and destroy all stock and inventory with such packaging.
Wheeler applied to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a trademark on a green label for menthol cigarettes but was denied in February 2004 because it closely resembled that of Marlboro, and his application for the red version is still pending, according to the lawsuit, which asks that he withdraw that application.
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