Expert says plain packs do not infringe trademarks

A senior lecturer in law at City University London has said that the tobacco industry’s argument that standardized packaging legislation violates their trademark rights is not convincing, according to a story relayed by the TMA.

Writing in The Conversation, Enrico Bonadio, said manufacturers would still be able to distinguish their products from those of competitors because they would be allowed to display the brand name on the packs, albeit in a standardized font.

And he made the point that trademark registrations did not offer owners a ‘positive right’ to use the protected mark, but only a ‘negative right’ to prevent counterfeiters from copying it. That meant governments could introduce measures, such as standardized packaging, that prohibited or restricted owners’ use of trademarks on public interest grounds.

“That trademark registrations do not offer a right to use the sign also lends weight to the conclusion that plain packaging does not constitute a de facto expropriation of tobacco brands and does not expose the countries which adopt this measure to the risk of having to pay damages in compensation to tobacco producers under the European Convention on Human Rights and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights,” Bonadio said.