Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida approved the request from both sides’ attorneys to dismiss the case of Gurkha Cigar Group Inc. v. Davidoff of Geneva USA Inc. in the battle over the Year of (the) Dragon name. Judge William P. Dimitrouleas dismissed the case with prejudice, however, little is known about the settlement other than both parties agreed to pay for their court costs.
Halfwheel reported that Davidoff did not reply to a request for comment, but Bianca Lopez, director of marketing for Gurkha, said, “It was an amicable agreement that was reached.”
Gurkha has an arrangement to license the trademarks from K. Hansotia & Co., Inc., a company presumably named after Gurkha’s owner Kaizad Hansotia. Those trademarks include a variety of dragon-related words within the cigar industry, including dragon, dragon fire, dragon lord, dragonslayer, imperial dragon, red dragon, and royal dragon. The company also filed for a trademark on “Year of Dragon,” which Davidoff & Cie SA opposed.
“It’s unclear what impact the settlement will have on the trademark process, which was suspended due to this lawsuit, which Gurkha filed in late 2023,” Charlie Minato wrote for Halfwheel. “In late 2023, Davidoff released the Davidoff Limited Edition 2024 Year of the Dragon cigar as part of its long-running Zodiac Series, which is named after the various symbols on the Chinese zodiac calendar. Davidoff was hardly alone. Asylum, De Los Reyes, Drew Estate, El Septimo, General Cigar Co., Habanos S.A., J.C. Newman, JM Tobacco, La Galera, Oliva, Maya Selva, Plasencia, Rocky Patel, United Cigars, and Vega Fina also introduced Year of the Dragon-themed cigars. There’s no evidence that any other company was sued other than Davidoff.”
“Gurkha released its own dragon-themed cigars, five different blends using the Year of the Dragon name. Both companies—as well as a host of others—also released Year of (the) Snake cigars. K. Hansotia & Co. has a trademark on Year of Snake.”
