Big Tobacco Sues E-Cigarette Company for using the letter 'M'

Apparently, the Font used in the E-Cigarette Brand in combination with the letter 'M' is all it takes for Big tobacco to launch a lawsuit against a company that has helped so many quit ingesting the 1,000's of chemicals that are in actual cigarettes.

The Font “The font that is used for the M’boro flavored e-liquid is a Times New Roman Font. The only similarity it may have to the marlboro font is that it is a serif font. However, Times New Roman is a widely used font and in no way infringes on PM USA Trademark” stated Gina King, brand manager for VeppoCig.com

How is this even making it to court? A font and a letter? These tobacco companies are so greedy and unethical that they do anything to get people addicted and now they are resorting to frivolous lawsuits with an obvious goal of hitting E-Cigs in the pocketbook.
I guess if the USDA aka Monsanto can own the word 'Organic', what's to say that another large Corp. can't own a letter of the alphabet?
www.activistpost.com...

The letter claimed that E-CigaretteDirect.com is infringing on PM USA’s trademark of the Marlboro logo and word mark. The item in question is their M’boro like flavored e-liquid. PM USA would like E-CigaretteDirect.com and VeppoCig.com to stop using the letter “M” in that particular font, claiming that it is ‘confusingly similar to the font PM USA uses on its MARLBORO cigarette packaging.”

Or are they just trying to corner a market in order to eventually crush it in the long term?

The tobacco giant has recently been in negotiations with Ruyan, a large e-cigarette manufacturer in China. Only speculations can be made at this point as nothing has been disclosed. As the only real potential competition to cigarettes to come along in years, perhaps ever, it’s well known the electronic cigarette industry has the attention of big tobacco. In this case, a small manufacturer based in Colorado, E-CigaretteDirect.com and Veppocig.com.

The desired outcome of course will be to make it harder for people to have access to an alternative from poison.

To make light of the current lawsuit filed by Phillip Morris against the company, E-CigaretteDirect.com's creative team has released a comic video.

www.onlineprnews.com...

E-CigaretteDirect.com has used the letter M to describe their Marlboro like e-liquid nicotine flavor that is similar to the taste of a Marlboro cigarette. The e-liquid flavor is called M'boro and has received rave reviews from users of the e-liquid. Lawyers for Phillip Morris claim that M'Boro is protected under Marlboro's trademark since the company "merely removed the letters "a", "r", and "l" and inserted an apostrophe". Gina King, brand manager for E-CigaretteDirect.com, responded "that statement alone should be a dismissal of the case".

Ms. King also stated "We are having a lot of fun with this and _aking the best of it. The office is trying not to use the offending letter "M" in our e_ails and chats to each other. It _akes for a creative at_osphere. We're still s_iling, despite being sued".

So what is E-Cigarette thinking? 2009...looks like this has been on their minds for awhile.
www.ecigarettenews.info...

After a couple of years of the major players in the tobacco and pharmaceutical industry doing all they can to beat the electronic cigarette to death they know want a piece of the pie.

The good:
1. The cash they will be willing to spend on research and development will mean big advances in the technology which will mean a better vaping experience for us all.
2. Their huge financial clout will ensure that required lobbying and research will take place which get the FDA and all other “health authorities” off our backs.

The bad:
1. Big tobacco will waltz in with their huge cash resources and take most or all of the business off the E Cig companies who have done all the hard work building this product from nothing.
2. The companies who have been lying to and literally killing us for the last 150 years with their deadly products will continue to take our hard earned cash.

***If you are like me and millions of others trying to quit this disgusting and deadly addiction, you may find some inspiration, support and tips here: www.abovetopsecret.com...***

What a sick twisted world we live in. Biggest death-dealers suing people.....

It's not really that big of a deal, at least for E-Cig users in general. Obviously for the company it is, and I hope that lawsuit gets thrown out of court.

There are literally hundreds upon hundreds of flavors out there, pretty much anything you could imagine. If they take Marb flavored E-Juice out of the mix, there might be a few grumpy people, but overall it's not even an issue.

The vast majority of E-Cig users don't even use Brand Tobacco flavors.

Like I said, it sucks they are taking them to court, and I hope the E-Cig company wins, but there are just so man juices and flavors out there that it really doesn't have any effect on the E-Cig community (which is pretty damn big by the way... check out www.e-cigarette-forums.com )

Originally posted by James1982
It's not really that big of a deal, at least for E-Cig users in general. Obviously for the company it is, and I hope that lawsuit gets thrown out of court.

There are literally hundreds upon hundreds of flavors out there, pretty much anything you could imagine. If they take Marb flavored E-Juice out of the mix, there might be a few grumpy people, but overall it's not even an issue.

The vast majority of E-Cig users don't even use Brand Tobacco flavors.

Like I said, it sucks they are taking them to court, and I hope the E-Cig company wins, but there are just so man juices and flavors out there that it really doesn't have any effect on the E-Cig community (which is pretty damn big by the way... check out www.e-cigarette-forums.com )

Unless it sets the precedence and paves the way for Big Tobacco to go after whoever and whatever product they want that threatens competition. Let's face it, they have the funds and power to do just about anything they want.

We won't know the intentions for sure but to go after a letter of the alphabet is their way of making an in-road to the industry. IMO

Don't trust them. They're not here to help us.

I'_ not a cigarette s_oker
but this is so frivolous
It _ akes _e _ad
what a bunch of _othereffers
no offense to any
_others out there

WOW talk about a frivolous lawsuit. i can't believe that it would even be allowed. suing over a letter being copyright infringement. give me a freeken break already.

you can't own letters, words and phrases ok i CAN kinda see that. but not a single letter, MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, GONNA SUE ME NOW?.

the sad thing is they will likely win. with all their high paid legal teams stomping over top of another smaller business. sadly it's the way things are done in big business. if you can't win fairly tie everything up in court for years and just wait till the opponent runs out of money. this really isn't much different than Monsanto suing over copyright infringement when some of their franken products get into someones fields. it should not only NOT be tolerated but the corporation fined heavily for even trying.

the only thing i can suggest is that people boycott any and all Marlboro products. the only way to show them the error of their ways, that they will actually respect is to HURT their bottom line.

Originally posted by generik
WOW talk about a frivolous lawsuit. i can't believe that it would even be allowed. suing over a letter being copyright infringement. give me a freeken break already.

you can't own letters, words and phrases ok i CAN kinda see that. but not a single letter, MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, GONNA SUE ME NOW?.

the sad thing is they will likely win. with all their high paid legal teams stomping over top of another smaller business. sadly it's the way things are done in big business. if you can't win fairly tie everything up in court for years and just wait till the opponent runs out of money. this really isn't much different than Monsanto suing over copyright infringement when some of their franken products get into someones fields. it should not only NOT be tolerated but the corporation fined heavily for even trying.

the only thing i can suggest is that people boycott any and all Marlboro products. the only way to show them the error of their ways, that they will actually respect is to HURT their bottom line.

But what about USDA owning the word 'Organic'? How the hell is that done?
www.abovetopsecret.com...

What we can do and what they can do are two different things I guess.

Well, as for a team releasing a "comical" video. . .well, it's not so comical. As for M'boro suing over the use of a letter and a font? This is how P. Morris views its customers, I guess. A group of people are allegedly too stupid to tell the difference between an E-cig and a "real" one. Nice.
PM: "Here's some cancer for ya,. . .and, oh, by the way. . .you're stupid!"
People: "M" I really stupid@?"

Well at least they should have some extra money from those crazy prices they sell their products at for lawyers. But once again PM has shown how big of a corrupt company they truly are.
Can`t use the letter M

As a e-cig user myself and not smoking now for over a year they do work and anyone looking for info should really checkout ECF as mentioned above.

www.e-cigarette-forum.com...

ya'll must be pretty ignorant, or just plain dumb if you dont see how "M’boro" infringes on PM's marlboro. they purposely chose a free font that is similar to marlboros.

reply to post by jude11


This is true...

But, this is an understandable lawsuit. Stupid, but they do have a point. These companies are selling juice and carts/cartos basically labeled as a brand name product. They are selling an item because of the popularity of someone's brand. That is the whole point of copyright laws.

Frankly I was wondering how various vendors were getting away with selling "newport" and "marlboro" flavors for so long.

Aside from this, the tobacco companies have nothing they could possibly sue the e-cig companies for. They don't have the same names, appearance (other than general cigarette shape, that no single manufacture can claim ownership of) so if companies would just stop using trademark names like Newport, Marlboro, etc, then there wouldn't be an issue.

No doubt they have other ways of attacking the E-Cig market, through lobbying to get anti-E-Cig legislation put into place. But if the recent ruing from the gov is any indicator, E-Cigs will be around for a long time.

I've even heard several rumors of the tobacco companies trying to break into the E-Cig domain, one vendor was talking about shipping several units to one of the big tobacco companies, forgot which one.

I really don't have any fear of E-Cigs being gone anytime soon. But there is always a chance, that's a given.

Originally posted by bismos
ya'll must be pretty ignorant, or just plain dumb if you dont see how "M’boro" infringes on PM's marlboro. they purposely chose a free font that is similar to marlboros.

Nice way to enter a conversation by calling everyone dumb.

BTW...it's not "M’boro" they are after. Just the letter 'M' and the font.

Originally posted by jude11

But what about Monsanto owning the word 'Organic'? How the hell is that done?

What we can do and what they can do are two different things I guess.

i was actually trying not to derail the topic by getting into a Monsanto rant.

as for copyrighting the word "organic", pretty much the same as the "100% pure beef" that a restraunt has as copyright even tho it is NOT 100% pure beef. call it a marketing ploy that should never be allowed. no copyrights should ever be allowed on things of that nature especially when the description is UNTRUE of the company's products. but when one OWNS the government through things like campaign contributions (which should not be allowed). what do we expect, they just rubber stamp things for their "owners".

if you too were to give millions of dollars into campaign funds you could do pretty much as you pleased, just as big corporations, and their lapdog lobbyists do. the more you give the more POWER you get.

reply to post by jude11


i wasnt calling everyone dumb. just the people that cant understand it is what it is. its pretty obvious they are trying to capitalize on the popularity of marlboros.

that would be like me making a fast food restaurant whose logo was just like mcdonalds golden arches but instead of a sans serif M i used a serif one.

reply to post by jude11


I tried e-cigarettes and quit after 3 days of using it. You have to use it religiously though and not go grab a real one. My problem though is that I did not carry it around after I quit and ended up smoking a real one. Hooked again. But two months off of smoking made me realize the effects cigarettes were taking on me. Most of the withdrawls of smoking are minimized with e-cigs, since you get your nicotine. What happens though is your taste, and smell returns, and your breathing becomes easier. You also start feeling your skin again and can sense heat and touch more intensely. It is really easy to go back to smoking real cigs when you start feeling your veins on fire. They aren't actually on fire but it feels like fire is flowing through your veins. One real cigarette takes that fire in the veins feeling away.

What the tobacco companies are doing is trying to place economic leverage on e-cigs. This is a frivolous lawsuit if I ever seen one. E-cigs offers a great alternative to most products on the market and at least for me was the easiest way to quit.

This crap doesn't surprise me. McDonalds trademarked the prefix Mc which is a common Irish surname. Any Irish person with Mc in their name who tries to open a business with their name in it could end up being sued by McDonalds.

If Mikey D's can do that, why wouldn't they let a tobacco company own a letter in a certain font?


The problem is; the courts are giving more rights to corporations anymore than it is to the citizens of this country. In fact, the courts seem to be stripping away citizen's rights every time they decide in favor of the corporations.

For the record, as I type this it is being docu_ented that.........

I DarkSarcas_ claim full rights and usage at the letters S and T.

Anyone who wishes to use these letters must pay 1$ to the previously mentioned claimed and must also agree to the Terms and conditions or said letters.

Terms and conditions

These letters are not to be used in any aggressive manners, vulgar statements, or in the restroom. Any unauthorized use is subject to a fine of 100$ and a mandatory minimum sentence of 1 week in the local county jail where the convicted will also be required to learn the correct and grammatical use of said letters.
Darksarcasm will not be held liable for any damages these letters are used to create.......

Continued for 60 more pages where one will give up all freedoms if signed and agree to permanent daily medication that causes complete memory loss.

Originally posted by jude11
To make light of the current lawsuit filed by Phillip Morris against the company, E-CigaretteDirect.com's creative team has released a comic video.

I do not quite understand this story. There is no Phillip Morris. How can they be suing anyone when they no longer exist?

Originally posted by Crapspackle

Originally posted by jude11
To make light of the current lawsuit filed by Phillip Morris against the company, E-CigaretteDirect.com's creative team has released a comic video.

I do not quite understand this story. There is no Phillip Morris. How can they be suing anyone when they no longer exist?

I don't understand what you mean.

PMI does exist.

www.pmi.com...

First of all, thank you for this thread. I was doing a random search for e cigarettes and big tobacco for the marketing work I'm doing right now, and this thread was the 5th from the top on Googles' search page. Good job!!

Now, if the font size is the problem, change the font. If that doesn't do it, take that particular flavor out of your choices that the consumer has. Personally, I wouldn't want a vapor that tastes like tobacco so I wouldn't miss it anyway.

This is just another pathetic move by big tobacco to make problems for their competition that, by all accounts, is making some pretty good headway in this industry. Big tobacco is starting to get scared that the e cigarette market is going to diminish their profits. They should be. I myself am going to try them out soon because, after smoking for 25 years I'm getting sick of it. I've tried every method under the sun and nothing has worked. This product sounds like it will work for me becasue all the physical mannerisms associated with smoking will still be there.

B.A.T in England just bought the rights to sell a product they they are calling "Safe Cigarette" which is a kind of hybrid between the e cigarette and the convential type. Part of their marketing campaign is telling people that e cigarettes are not that healthy and that the Safe Cigarettes will give them a healthier alternative. Right. A healthier alternative to a product that they have been selling to people for decades that have killed millions. Now all of a sudden they care about our health? Bullsh*t. It's all about the money.

You're probably going to be seeing things like this in the news for awhile, but the fact is that companies like PM are slowly losing the tobacco war that e cigarettes started years ago when they first started making them. I understand that they've been popular in Europe and the far east for quite some time, but since the American market is where companies like PM make the real money, when the product immigrated over here, they started sweating.

Good.