LONDON (Alliance News) - British American Tobacco PLC on Friday filed a legal claim against the UK Government in response to its introduction of plain packaging for cigarettes.
The FTSE 100-listed company joined Philip Morris International, the US owner of the Marlboro cigarettes brand, in what could turn out to be one of the largest ever legal claims against the British government.
The government regulations impose a ban on logos and visual trademark elements, requiring all cigarette packaging to look the same, but British American Tobacco claimed that plain cigarette packaging violates a number of UK, European and international laws and deprives tobacco companies of their trademark intellectual property rights.
?We have always said that we consider plain packaging to be unlawful and that if it were to be adopted we would take legal action," a British American Tobacco spokesperson said.
?Legal action is not something we wanted to have to consider and is not something we undertake lightly, but the UK Government has left us with no other choice. Any business that has property taken away from it by the state would inevitably want to challenge and seek compensation," the spokesperson added.
It is expected that other tobacco companies, including London-listed Imperial Tobacco PLC, will follow in filing legal claims, and if they are successful it could result in a compensation payout as high as GBP11 billion according to industry analysts.
?We have long been making the point that plain packaging legislation would be a big mistake," Imperial Tobacco's Director of Corporate Affairs Axel Gietz said in March.
?We have a fundamental right to differentiate our brands from those of our competitors and, should plain packaging pass into law, we would regrettably be left with no choice but to defend our legal rights in court,? Gietz added.
Imperial Tobacco wasn't immediately available for comment Friday.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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British American Tobacco (BATS)