In the Mainland of China there is still growth in the amount of people that start to smoke; now there are 350 million smokers in China. And a scientist specialised in refining cigarettes to the taste of Chinese smokers, has even been made a member of the prestigious Chinese Academy of Engineering. Not so in Hong Kong. Here the future of smoking goes slowly out as the light of a burning cigarette. But still the number of smokers in the fragrant harbour is substantial. According to the University of Hong there are 760,000 smokers in Hong Kong, 380,000 will die of smoker-related diseases, see here. The World Health Organization confirms that half of all smokers will die of smoker related diseases. 7,000 people per year die in Hong Kong because of tobacco. But if a product is allowed to be sold, is it fair to restrict of even prohibit the use of a trademark on these products?
Tobacco advertising is illegal and smoking prohibited in public places in Hong Kong. Yesterday, on World No Tobacco Day the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health, academics from the University of Hong Kong and some public experts called for plain packaging in Hong Kong, reported Jennifer Cheng and Christy Choi of the South China Morning Post.
Situation now: at least half of the front and back side of a package must be used for a pictorial health warning.
Suggested plan: “Rather than covering 50% of the main sides of the cigarette pack, the pictorial health warning would be expanded into 75% or above of the main sides of the cigarette pack. In addition, all forms of tobacco branding should be labeled exclusively with simple unadorned text. This entails that trademarks, graphics and logos be detached from cigarette packs, except for the brand name that is displayed in a standard font size, colour and location on the package. The packaging should not contain colour and should include only the content and consumer information, such as toxic constituents, and health warnings required by law. Quitline should also be displayed at a prominent position.”
Read the article on the Hong Kong Council on Smoking and Health here.
It is indisputable that tobacco products kill. But people do not just fall over and die. Smoker related diseases are often lethal but slow motion diseases so that a lot of costly medical care is used, that could be applied to people who catch some non-self inflicted disease. The argument of self-determination of the smoker is flawed by the addictive substances and the death of second hand smokers. To illustrate the latter one can imagine that doing tricks with a knife can be addictive for some people. If you allow smoking, it is comparable to let these people buy knifes to do tricks even though you know that half of them die, and some incidental bystanders, just like second hand smokers. So a decision to prohibit smoking or “dealing” cigarettes makes sense from a health and ethical perspective.
However, it is another matter altogether to prohibit the use of a trademark for health reasons. This can only be done with sufficient compensation, possibly by deducting the medical costs induced by smoker related diseases. One can expect that the likelihood of confusion about the origin the products will rise if there are only plain package cigarettes on the market. People’s memory is increased when they are able to visualise (method of loci). Without trade dress, special lettering and trademark logo this is more difficult.
More about this topic you can find in IP Dragon’s: Do Trademarks Killl? Or Are They Victim? A Hong Kong Story With A Happy Ending and Trademark Logo Goes Up in Smoke To Save Australians? Let’s Check The HK-Australian Bilateral Investment Treaty.
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