Altadis sues Pete Johnson

[iRace559]

Originally Posted by IHT

indeed, alan. changed it to the "series PDQ" or something stupid like that.

to hell with Cleo McDowell, i'd ask Mr. Randy Watson!!!


what would skeeter do?

"Sexual Chocolate Everybody!!"

[eyesack]

Originally Posted by Flux

Screw Altadis, their cigars suck anyways. IMO, the Siglo is the only decent smoke they make and even that is pretty average. It's ironic that the Siglo name was a product of a lawsuit that prevented Gran Habano from marketing the 3 Siglos (which is a far better smoke than anything they have ever made. I can't wait for them to sue some theatre company over a production of Romeo and Juliet.

Last MC's and RyJ's I've had were far from sucky... I'm fairly sure that people still like H. Upmann brand as well... Although I will admit, sometimes MC looks like they're trying to hold on by a thread to their brand. The Media Noche and Afrique as well as their regular line (for a milder smoke) are pretty darn good cigars, IMO. I also have liked the offerings from RyJ.

[fuente~fuente]

Maybe somebody should file something against Altadis for impersonating Cubans in the U.S.

[Cypress]

Originally Posted by fuente~fuente

Maybe somebody should file something against Altadis for impersonating Cubans in the U.S.

You think they would sue themselves? Altadis is 50% owner of Habanos S.A. HAHAHA

[jadeg001]

Originally Posted by eyesack

Last MC's and RyJ's I've had were far from sucky... I'm fairly sure that people still like H. Upmann brand as well... Although I will admit, sometimes MC looks like they're trying to hold on by a thread to their brand. The Media Noche and Afrique as well as their regular line (for a milder smoke) are pretty darn good cigars, IMO. I also have liked the offerings from RyJ.

I agree. Although I love tats, and enjoy them more than any of Altadis' NC brands, I do enjoy some of the various Altadis sticks as well.

I'm at school now, so I'll see if one of my professors can shed some light on this matter.

[Cypress]

Originally Posted by IHT

indeed, alan. changed it to the "series PDQ" or something stupid like that.

to hell with Cleo McDowell, i'd ask Mr. Randy Watson!!!


what would skeeter do?

The hell with all of yall. Ask Bo.

[themoneycollector]

Bo knows

[IHT]

Originally Posted by iRace559

"Sexual Chocolate Everybody!!"

"you may know him as Joe the Repairman, from the What's Goin' Down episode of 'That's My Momma'."

"that boy good."
"yeah.. good and terrible."

my favorite scene of the movie.



listen to the song they sing during the wedding. "she's your queen to be.... FREE FROM INFECTION..." i lose it right there.

[sboyajian]

Originally Posted by Snake Hips

No, but Altadis owns the trademark to the fleur de lis.

Hate to burst your bubble, but Altadis does not own a trademark to the fleur-de-lis. The FdL is public domain and is not a trademarkable symbol. It falls under the category much like circles, squares, ovals, chevron stripes. You can not trademark it.

What you can trademark, which they did, is their logo, which is the Cross Sword Triangle with a FdL in the middle. Use of that logo would be prohibitted, however they can not prevent someone from using a FdL.

That being said, while there is no way their case would stand up in court in reference to the FdL, they likely do have a case and would likely win the following two parts of their complaint.

1. Similarities in the look of the Ambos Mundos band compared to the Montecristo Band (ie: Brand up top arced over a FdL, with a dot on each side next to the name).

Very similar in terms of "style", however also at the same time very different. Sadly in the eyes of the court who doesn't see these bands on a normal occurance, they will likely think they are trying to look like the Montecristo.




Now, I'm not saying Pete "copied" it.. I'm sure he didn't. Knowing how much Pete loves the simple classic look of the Cuban cigars, he was simply trying to follow suit with his brands.

I think the Lawsuit is silly as it hurts an industry who already has enough enemies, it makes Altadis look like Goliath and it turns smokers off to their brand.

People don't mistake a Montecristo with a Tatuaje, and if they did they'd be going around telling everyone "Montecristo changed their cigars, they taste great".. Pete isn't taking money out of the pockets of Altadis by mistaken sales, he's taking money out of their pockets because he's putting out better product.

[themoneycollector]

I just noticed that he used a different FdL on the ambos, and wow, that is a striking resemblance.

[fuente~fuente]

Originally Posted by Cypress

You think they would sue themselves? Altadis is 50% owner of Habanos S.A. HAHAHA

Ha! Yeah...I knew they were part owner. That still doesn't make it right!

Hey... If Coke can sue Coke Zero...

[Flux]

Originally Posted by eyesack

Last MC's and RyJ's I've had were far from sucky... I'm fairly sure that people still like H. Upmann brand as well... Although I will admit, sometimes MC looks like they're trying to hold on by a thread to their brand. The Media Noche and Afrique as well as their regular line (for a milder smoke) are pretty darn good cigars, IMO. I also have liked the offerings from RyJ.

To each their own. If you like them, smoke them. I went through my Altadis phase a long time ago and decided that I preferred other stuff. The fact that Altadis appears to be some monolithic lawsuit happy corporation intent on squashing another brand for a similarity in labels doesn't really entice me to go back to any of their smokes either.

[joncaputo]

Look my suggestion is we ask Chuck Norris and whatever..and I do mean WHATEVER Chuck says is law.

[madurolover]

In the interest of full diclosure, I would like to point out that Tatuaje sued Altadis first.

Altadis being sued

I am sure that this was a tactical move by Pete that was advised by his lawyers. Regardless, I love almost anything Tatuaje and don't like 99% of Altadis brands. That being said, if Pete has to change the bands I really don't care since I don't smoke the band.

[kansashat]

Originally Posted by IHT

indeed, alan. changed it to the "series PDQ" or something stupid like that.

to hell with Cleo McDowell, i'd ask Mr. Randy Watson!!!


what would skeeter do?

Au contraire my dessicated friend, it was Cleo who put his legal troubles with McDonald's Corp so succinctly...

"Look... me & the McDonald's people got this little misunderstanding. See, they're McDonald's... I'm McDowell's. They got the Golden Arches, mine's the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We got two all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds."

As far as what our mutual friend Skeeter would do...well, I'm certain that he would put on his latest cd of Sexual Chocolate & call Cleo for the name of his lawyer.