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Philip Morris USA is accusing 10 New York and New Jersey retailers of selling counterfeit Marlboro cigarettes.
The nation's largest tobacco company announced the federal lawsuits against the retailers Thursday.
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When it comes to smoking, Indonesia remains the last paradise for a puff in Southeast Asia. Those addicted to cigarettes can openly light up in public places without worrying about tough anti-tobacco penalties found in the rest of the region.
This reality has been shaped by the power of local and multinational tobacco companies on the archipelago of some 224 million people.
At the finals for the recent ‘Mild Live Wanted 2009' countrywide talent contest, in the former colonial city of Bandung, competing musicians belted out their songs from around 3 p.m till midnight.
For Indonesia's small, yet vocal, anti-tobacco activists, these concerts - billed to promote local talent - offered more than music to fill their ears. They were the latest in a string of publicity drives of the powerful multinational tobacco company Philip Morris International (PMI) in the country. . . .
The prospect of more deaths from this ”smoking epidemic” has still to move Jakarta, which is still to sign the world's first public health treaty - the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which has been in force since early 2005.
By contrast, this treaty has been signed by Indonesia's nine neighbours in the region, which include Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. . . .
But in other forms of entertainment, the publicity for tobacco companies are more direct, revealed Kania during a telephone interview from Jakarta. ”There was a film for teenagers last year where one of the actresses, who is still in junior high school, was smoking in scenes.”
Such an effort to glamorise smoking goes to extremes, at times. ”There are so many scenes of people smoking in Indonesian movies where the camera even zooms in to show the cigarette brand,” adds Kania. ”There is no regulation like in other countries.”
It is little wonder why a regional anti-tobacco lobby has described Southeast Asia's largest country as a ”cash cow” for the tobacco industry.
For the first time since early 2009, Altria Group's Philip Morris USA (PM USA) will expand the trial of its Marlboro Snus smokeless, spitless tobacco product to new markets this month.
Marlboro Snus will soon be available in select markets in Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, California and Colorado, Altria spokesman Bill Phelps told CSNews Online late last week. This expansion plan was first hinted at by Michael E. Szymanczyk, chairman and chief executive of Altria Group, during the Barclays Capital Back-to-School Consumer Conference in September, where he revealed the product would enter new markets in the fall.
Snus has been in test market sine 2007, said Phelps, and the company has learned, received feedback and made some changes to the product as a result. New Marlboro Snus includes smaller packaging that contains six pouches, down from 12 pouches, along with a larger pouch size, according to Phelps.
Cigarette manufacturers opposed yesterday the $300-million proposal of Swiss firm SICPA Product Security SA to affix a high-tech, tamper-proof strip stamps on every pack of locally made cigarettes.
Chris Nelson of Philip Morris told the House ways and means committee that the proposal's cost would be borne initially by manufacturers and eventually passed on to consumers.
"This translates to around P.50-P1 increase in cost per pack across the board for all brands - an amount higher than the excise tax increases in 2007, 2009 and 2011 for low, medium and high tax categories," he said.
He said for Philip Morris, the cost of the stamps "translates to around P564 million to P1.1 billion a year."
"For our bigger competitor, Fortune Tobacco, the figure is between P1.6 billion and P3.2 billion a year," he said.
"It is a big blow to companies like ours still reeling from the effects of the global recession. More so the small players," he added.
A jury on Monday recommended that cigarette maker Philip Morris USA should pay $13.8 million in punitive damages to the daughter of a longtime smoker who died of lung cancer.
The panel voted 9-3 in favor of Bullock's daughter Jodie Bullock, who is now the plaintiff in the case. Betty Bullock died of lung cancer in February 2003. She had sued Philip Morris in April 2001, accusing the company of fraud and product liability. A jury in 2002 recommended Philip Morris pay a record $28 billion in punitive damages to Bullock, but a judge later reduced the award to $28 million.
In 2008, the 2nd District Court of Appeal reversed the jury's decision and remanded the case for a new trial over the punitive damages. Philip Morris said the $28 million remained excessive.
However, the original jury recommended the tobacco company pay Bullock $750,000 in damages and $100,000 for pain and suffering, a verdict that still stands.
In a statement, Richmond, Virginia-based Altria Group Inc., which owns Philip Morris, said any amount given to Bullock's daughter is unwarranted. . . .
Plaintiff's attorney Michael Piuze said the jury's verdict amounted to a "slap on the wrist for Philip Morris."
"I liked it better when it was $28 billion," said Piuze, who represented Betty Bullock after she filed the lawsuit. "She wanted me to beat the crap out of Philip Morris, and we did it once."
For the 42 percent of Americans who smoke cigarettes or once did, a ruling from the state's highest court last month seemed to offer hope that a simple screening tool could help them ward off advanced lung cancer.
The judges decided that Philip Morris USA may have to pay for lung scans for smokers so they can get early warning if they've developed cancer - and get treatment before it spreads into a deadly mass. (A federal court would have to affirm the state's decision before the company would have to pay.)
Even before the court weighed in, advocates had been pressing politicians for money to pay for CT scans for high-risk but asymptomatic people - insurers generally don't cover the test for screening - particularly since a group of New York researchers published results in 2006 suggesting that screening is saving the lives of smokers, former smokers, and people exposed to secondhand smoke and other hazards, such as asbestos. Some smokers are so convinced of the benefits of CTs they pay the $400 screening fee themselves.
"Our movement is really taking hold,'' said Joanne O'Connor, cochair of the Lung Cancer Alliance in Massachusetts, which is lobbying legislators for funding. "I wouldn't want to find out [I had lung cancer] like my sister did when she was already stage four. She died six months later.''
But even as pressure for CT scanning builds, many of the country's top cancer specialists are saying not so fast. . . .
The Massachusetts Supreme Court relied in part on Miller's expert testimony during the lawsuit brought against Philip Morris by two Massachusetts smokers. Since the 2006 study was published, however, the New England Journal has published three corrections, including one from Henschke revealing that some of the funding for the study came from cigarette-maker Liggett Tobacco.
ALTRIA GROUP IS VIEWED AS ONE OF THE country's most fearsome companies because of its willingness to use its political clout and legal muscle to maintain the dominance of its domestic cigarette brands.
Known on Wall Street as Big MO -- a reference to its ticker symbol, which harks back to its prior identity as Philip Morris and to its lengthy record of strong shareholder returns -- Altria lately has done little for investors. The Street is concerned that the company overpaid early this year for smokeless-tobacco maker UST, and that Marlboro, its top seller and the No. 1 cigarette ...
ia Group (MO.N) shares are a bargain, Barron's said Sunday, citing its low multiple, high yield and strong brands.
At its current prices, Altria has little downside and lot of potential to rally, the investment magazine said. At $18.50 Altria fetches 9.9 times next years earnings, cheaper than weaker rivals, and pays a 7.3 percent dividend.
Albert Diaz
Albert Diaz, 48
HOMETOWN: New York City, now lives in Charlotte.
CURRENT JOB: Special Superior Court judge for complex business cases, one of three in North Carolina.
EDUCATION: Bachelor's degree, University of Pennsylvania, 1983; New York University School of Law, 1988; Master's in Business Administration, Boston University, 1993.
EXPERIENCE: U.S. Marine Corps Legal Services Support Section and U.S. Navy Office of the Judge Advocate General. Left active duty in the Marine Corps in 1995 and worked as an associate at Hunton & Williams law firm. Appointed to the N.C. Superior Court in 2001. Served as a reserve military judge in the U.S. Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary until he retired from the military in 2006 at the rank of Lt. Colonel. . . .
He left the service in 1995 for private practice. He made a name for himself at the law firm of Hunton & Williams representing Philip Morris during tobacco lawsuits in the late 1990s.
What many e-cigarette users have feared from day one could be in the works: Philip Morris, the biggest maker of tobacco cigarettes in the United States, has been discovered to be in negotiations with Ruyan Group, which manufactured the original e-cigarette starting in 2005. A short news article on Quamnet.com states the seriousness of the matter:
"Ruyan Group said that an agreement between the Company and Philip Morris International Management S.A. could not be reached on matters relating to the co-operation between them on its "electronic cigarettes" by the end of the first and exclusive phase of negotiations."
A multimillion-dollar award from Philip Morris to the estate of a Salem woman will hinge on a narrow legal point argued Monday in the Oregon Supreme Court.
At stake is a 2002 jury award of $150 million in punitive damages against the cigarette maker, later reduced by the trial judge to $100 million, and then reversed in 2006 by the Oregon Court of Appeals.
On a 5-4 vote, the appeals court upheld a verdict of fraud and negligence against Philip Morris, and an award of $169,000 in compensatory damages to the family of Michelle Schwarz, who died of lung cancer in 1999 at age 53.
Schwarz's family argued in Multnomah County Circuit Court that Philip Morris had fraudulently marketed its low-tar Merit brand, which Schwarz switched to in 1976, as safer than regular cigarettes.
But the appeals court ruled the jury should not have considered the harm to individuals outside Oregon in deciding the amount of punitive damages.
The appeals court ordered new proceedings in circuit court to determine only those damages, but the case was appealed to the Oregon Supreme Court.
A lawyer representing the Schwarz family, Maureen Leonard of Portland, said Monday that "more reprehensible conduct (by Philip Morris) justifies higher punitive damages."
Cigarette makers are still struggling, with volumes for the sector declining by about 12% on average in the third quarter.
Still, despite disappointing earnings results over the past two weeks, some companies have nonetheless raised their outlooks.
While TheStreet users are doubtful good news for the sector is imminent, they chose Philip Morris International(PM Quote) as having the most potential for lighting up a sales gain first. It nabbed 44.5% of the vote.
Philip Morris International said that selling cigarettes solely overseas has helped bolster its demand in the third-quarter, with volume slipping just 3%.
In the past three months, the major tobacco companies have altered their promotional strategies, pulling back from umbrella programs and rechanneling efforts to specific brand promotions.
Based on an exclusive survey conducted by CSP Daily News and UBS Tobacco Analyst Nik Modi, nearly 80% of c-store chains said manufacturers have overhauled their total promotions, while only one of five said marketing promotions essentially have remained steady.
Among key comments from retailer respondents to the survey:
"From Altria I have notice more regionalized promotion deals. From R.J. Reynolds, they have cut back on their monthly discounts. Lorillard has given extra dollars off to the state of Wisconsin," responded one retailer.
Cigarettes' big three—Altria, R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard—are facing aggressive challenges from down trading and segment shifting in the convenience-store channel.
The nation's top three brands—Marlboro, Camel and Newport—are battling to hold onto market position in the convenience channel, some six months since Congress approved a record increase in the federal excise tax (FET) to finance expansion of the national children's insurance program, SCHIP.
Based on an exclusive survey conducted by CSP Daily News and UBS Tobacco Analyst Nik Modi, Lorillard appears to be the safest of the three.
Responding to the survey question asking, "Are you seeing substantial trade down from the big three premium brands?" half of the survey respondents said yes.
Asked which of the three premium brands are seeing the most negative pressure, about 40% named Marlboro specifically, and another 40% cited Camel or other Reynolds' brands such as Winston and Salem,
As we explained in August, Betsy McCaughey is a liar who lies. Incessantly. The magazine that ennabled her lying originally is now, finally calling her out on it.
McCaughey first began lying in 1994, because she was bored. While working at a conservative think tank and conferring on the regular with the tobacco industry, McCaughey wrote a lengthy and incredibly misleading story about Bill Clinton's health care reform bill that Andrew Sullivan's New Republic happily printed, despite the fact that it was just full of lies.
Michelle Cottle just wrote a piece for Franklin Foer's newer, less annoying New Republic all about McCaughey, and while it doesn't go into the gritty details of how incredibly irresponsible Sullivan was as an editor back in the '90s . . . . it is satisfyingly mean to McCaughey. . . .
Of course her political "career" ended in disaster because she's impossible to work with or for, and she rightfully faded back into obscurity at another conservative think tank. Until, weirdly, she came back with columns and op-eds and radio appearances and TV interviews in which she shamelessly lied about Barack Obama's health care plans, just this year! It is weird how that happens, right? How no one is ever so wrong that they're not allowed back on TV to be wrong some more, as long as they're useful to people with lots of money at stake?