Cigarette branding is a guarantee of quality

As a trademark lawyer and consultant to Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP), an initiative of the International Chamber of Commerce, I read your editorial (16 January) on tobacco smuggling. 

You rightly describe as ‘utterly daft’ the smoking of cigarettes of unknown origins.

Yet, in previous editorial comments ( August 12, 2014), you supported proposals to eliminate cigarette brands and trademarks.

Brands and trademarks provide a guarantee to customers of the origin and quality of products. This has been confirmed by the courts here and throughout the European Union.

In its 2014 ‘fact sheet’, the US Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco warned “counterfeit cigarettes contain higher levels of tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide than genuine cigarettes”.

Smokers are entitled to be reassured their cigarettes have a guarantee of origin and quality.

Niall Tierney

Castle Street

Dalkey

Co Dublin