Who won the argument over plain packaging?
Government and tobacco companies recently faced off in Australia’s High Court over the legality of plain packaging for cigarettes. Stephen Stern and Matthew Rimmer give their contrasting views on the arguments and implications
From April 17 to 19 the High Court of Australia heard argument from
four international tobacco companies as to why the Australian Tobacco
Plain Packaging Act 2011 was in breach of Australia's Constitution.
The legislation was passed in late 2011 and was the subject of an
immediate challenge by the tobacco companies. The legislation prohibits
the use of any graphical trade marks, colours, logos or other
indications other than a word mark and a variant name, both of which
must be written in a particular font, of no larger than a particular
size and placed in a particular position on cigarette packets. The
legislation also prohibits the use of such intellectual property on
packaging for cigars, cigarillos and all other tobacco products as well
as on the cigarette products themselves (such as cigarette sticks).
As the legislation provided no compensation to the tobacco companies,
they challenged the legislation in the...
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