Philip Morris Fights Australian Cigarette Packaging Rules

SYDNEY — Tobacco giant Philip Morris launched legal action on Monday against the Australian government over the country's plans to strip company logos from cigarette packages and replace them with grisly images of cancerous mouths, sickly children and bulging, blinded eyes.

The government believes the new rules will make the packages less attractive to smokers and turn Australia into the world's toughest country on tobacco advertising. Several outraged cigarette makers have threatened lawsuits, arguing the move illegally diminishes the value of their trademarks. Philip Morris is the first of those companies to file a claim for compensation.

"We would anticipate that the compensation would amount to billions," Philip Morris spokeswoman Anne Edwards told The Associated Press.

The legislation, which will be introduced to Parliament in July, would ban cigarette makers from printing their logos, promotional text or colorful images on cigarette packs. Brand names will instead be printed in a small, uniform font and feature large health warnings and gruesome, full-color images of the consequences of smoking. The law would be phased in over six months, starting in January 2012.

Hong Kong-based Philip Morris Asia Limited, which owns the Australian affiliate Philip Morris Limited, filed a notice of claim on Monday arguing the legislation violates a bilateral investment treaty between Australia and Hong Kong.

The tobacco company says the treaty protects companies' property, including intellectual property such as trademarks. The plain packaging proposal severely diminishes the value of the company's trademark, Edwards said.

"Our brands are really one of the absolute key valuable assets that we have as a company – it's what helps us compete, it's what enables us to distinguish our products," Edwards said. "This move ... would essentially amount to confiscation of our brand in Australia."

The government denied the plan breaks any laws and said it would not back down.

"Our government is determined to take every step we can to reduce the harm by tobacco," Health Minister Nicola Roxon said. "We won't be deterred by tobacco companies making threats or taking legal action."

Prime Minister Julia Gillard also brushed off Philip Morris' threats. "We're not going to be intimidated by big tobacco's tactics," she told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

The legal notice filed Monday opens up a three-month period of negotiation between the two sides. Philip Morris said if a "satisfactory outcome" isn't achieved by the end of the three months, it will seek arbitration.

Comments

[gfm975]

11:35 AM on 06/28/2011

The moron said: " wsdave LOL!!!

So LOWER prices, caused by opening up a mere 20% of the reserve, so people drive and pollute more, is perfectly OK with you so long as it isn't the WHOLE reserve.

LOL!!!

You liberals crack me up.

Pollution is bad!

Except when liberal do it....

LOL!!! "
*****************************
Hey dipstick, the reason we aren't driving vehicles with alternate fuels is because of Neanderthals like yourself who have for decades obstructed science.

Green energies would be much farther along if we didn't have to deal with Troglodytes like you.

And I guess liberals are the only one's driving vehicles today. You have no thought process... you are a mental case... seek help.

[AllowMeToObserve]

07:09 PM on 06/28/2011

Thank you. F&F.

[gfm975]

07:49 PM on 06/28/2011

I hope this idiot isn't getting paid to post... if so, they are losing money on this moron.... ha ha

[Stockbroker38]

10:19 PM on 06/27/2011

Check it out, the Marlboro Man has found a new home: The Third World. (How else do you think the Smoking Baby came to be?)

http://current.com/shows/vanguard/93228182_sex-lies-cigarettes-vanguard-trailer.htm?xid=RSSfeed

[nomoredead]

11:16 AM on 06/27/2011

They should put a picture of a homeless person on a voter ballot next to ' republican '.

[riverkwai1]

10:58 AM on 06/27/2011

Yup, the problem is that we just haven't noticed yet that cigarettes are bad for you. I'm sure smokers are going to see these packs and all of a sudden realize that cigarettes aren't loaded with vitamen C.

[TheSardonicAtheist]

10:57 AM on 06/27/2011

What a completely sad attempt to get smokers to quit. I say, SMOKE UP America, it's your right, it's your body, Do whatever you want.

[nomoredead]

11:09 AM on 06/27/2011

And more Social Security money for me........

[99er2049er]

10:54 AM on 06/27/2011

To all smokers, I highly recommend you try the e-cigarette. If the first brand doesn't work out for you, try another brand. My girlfriend doesn't smoke anymore after using these. I won't promote a particular brand, but the second brand she tried worked. Give it a shot, it may not work for everyone, but it works for many. The life you save will be your own.

[99er2049er]

10:52 AM on 06/27/2011

Philip Morris, RJ Reynolds, and all the other lying cigarrette companies should have been government taken over and phased out of existence. Once they got caught lying to congress and the world about the dangers of their products, they should no longer have been in business. I say keep taxing them and running negative ads against their products. A company that kills millions of people a year and promotes their products to create new victims, doesn't deserve to be in business.

[CalmDawn]

10:52 AM on 06/27/2011

You want to keep your trademarked brand name on the package? Just add a superimposed "brought to you by . . . " on the photos. Very appropriate.

[canadaloki]

10:51 AM on 06/27/2011

I think that if you have to look at the awful photos they're going to put on the boxes every time you grab a cigarette, then yes, it will make people think about what they're doing to themselves with every cigarette they smoke. As a reformed smoker, I say yes to Australia's pending law.

[TannySG]

10:49 AM on 06/27/2011

I smoke. I am fully aware of the consequences and how it can hurt me. I smoke because I need a break; I smoke because I like how it feels. My body, my life, my decisions.

[KarasudaJay]

10:51 AM on 06/27/2011

As long as you accept the risks and don't think it should be Medicare/Medicaid's problem, I can respect that.

[modrocker]

11:22 AM on 06/27/2011

Let's make that true of all risky health behavior. Eat too many potato chips, doughnuts, cookies, fries, burgers? Don't make it Medicare's problem when you have stomach or gastro-intestinal ailments. Exercise too much and now you have a hernia or you took a fall running and broke your ankle? That's your problem, not Medicare. Don't use proper lighting when you read and now you need new glasses, too bad, not Medicare's problem. So do anything, anything at all, that's risky for your health (and that's just about everything), you're on your own.

[99er2049er]

10:55 AM on 06/27/2011

Try the e-cigarette. If you enjoy a cigarette for the nicotine fix and holding it and smoking it and taking a break from work, try it out. You will eliminate the chemicals and the smoke comes out clean without the nasty smell.

[TannySG]

11:17 AM on 06/27/2011

I have heard great things about that, and intend to try it. Thanks!

[complimentary admission]

10:41 AM on 06/27/2011

I find these pictures to be far more offensive than smoking. They are horribly grotesque and nauseating. Why is this okay with anyone?

[Zilo]

08:40 PM on 06/27/2011

Umm..I'm not sure what you mean. If they ARE the likely outcome of smoking then it's a good thing that you find them grotesque and nauseating. That is the whole point...

However, I don't think it's right that the government can tell a company not to put their own logo on their product in favor of these images. That's just wayyyy overreaching on the government's part. A simple warning about the consequences of smoking the product should suffice. If people still smoke even after that's, it's on them. They obviously don't mind getting lung cancer at that point.

[UltraClassicII]

10:38 AM on 06/27/2011

I have no problem with this. But let's not stop here. All alcohol sales should include pictures of the death and destruction that drunk drivers cause, the violence and abuse that drunks engage in as well as the health problems caused by this product. I venture to say alcohol kills far more innocent people than does tobacco. Who on this site has not had a friend killed by a drunk driver?

[Zilo]

08:42 PM on 06/27/2011

I know lots of people who can hold their alcohol, so there isn't the direct correlation between alcohol and drunk driving. For some irresponsible people there is, of course, but not like there is between cigarettes and health effects (if the products are used long enough). It's really a sign of a weak argument when people keep trying to compare the two.

And I've never known anyone who was killed by a drunk driver.

[repugnicansfearme]

10:26 AM on 06/27/2011

Dear Australian Government: Keep up the good work. The more people see the downside of the "coolness" of smoking (are you listening, Mad Men??) the better off people will be.

[Itsbushesfault]

10:20 AM on 06/27/2011

If cigerettes are so bad for you then why don't they just make them illegal?

[KarasudaJay]

10:27 AM on 06/27/2011

They are bad, but they are so very taxable.

[traveling1]

06:54 PM on 06/27/2011

Exactly! The hypocrites. Illinois passed $1 tax/pack recently to "fund children's health care" but also used the reason that increased taxes lower smoking rates. No one could/would answer what happens when tax revenue decreases then - like you anticipate and WANT - but you can't fund children's health care. Hmm raised taxes AGAIN and/or start taxing something else...

Hypocrites. All I can say is I am so glad I quit!!!

[johncarson]

10:44 AM on 06/27/2011

Every heard of prohibition? How did that work out?

What about the "war on drugs"? How is that going?

[quedog]

10:10 AM on 06/27/2011

cigs also cause stank bref