trademarks and tobacco

[Robert Weissman <rob@essential.org>]

There is talk in Congress of adopting some international tobacco controls
in conjunction with the broad tobacco control legislation expected to be
adopted this year.

One issue of concern is tobacco company marketing overseas. The companies
have used an ingenious array of T-shirts, travel companies, discotheques,
clothing lines, and numerous other devices to promote their product.

In Malaysia and Canada, they circumvented very strict advertising and
marketing regulations by simply advertising the Salem Travel Agency or the
Camel Clothing Line, or whatever, instead of directly marketing
cigarettes.

This raises the issue of how use of trademarks could be regulated. Is
there any precedent for regulating, in national law, use of trademarks as
a matter of health policy? (Infant formula and pharmaceuticals come to
mind as possible examples.) 

Suppose, for example, the U.S. wanted to prohibit Marlboro ads in
the Philippines from containing human images or cartoons. Could it reach
this result by imposing regulations on the use of Philip Morris'
trademark? Could it impose conditions on Philip Morris's licensing of the
trademarks to minority-stake subsidiaries, or to independent companies
operating in the Philippines?


Robert Weissman
Essential Information			|   Internet:	rob@essential.org