Cigar company says competitor's product infringes its trademark

A Connecticut-based cigar company has filed a trademark infringement suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against a competitor that sells and markets a product with a similar sounding name.

Connecticut Valley Tobacconist has also filed against Harry's Smoke Shop, a cigar store that carries the allegedly infringing brand in Philadelphia. The plaintiff asks the court to order the destruction of the infringing products, plus compensatory and punitive damages.

The complaint says that Connecticut Valley Tobacconist created the Mysterioso brand of cigars in January 2003, successfully registering the name with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2007 and renewing it in 2012.

The plaintiffs claim that La Flor, a competitor based in Florida, created its Mysterio brand of cigars shortly after the introduction of Mysterioso. The defendant tried to get its own trademark registered, but was unsuccessful because of the brand similarities.

Connecticut Valley sent several cease and desist letters to La Flor, which have been ignored. The plaintiff also claims that La Flor began marketing Mysterio in the same markets as Mysterioso in 2013, allegedly harming Connecticut Valley's brand and purposefully confusing customers in order to infringe on the market. Connecticut Valley says that La Flor is a  much larger company and unjustly benefits from the confusion because it is a more recognizable name.

The plaintiff is represented by Casey Green of Sidkoff, Pinkus & Green in Philadelphia.

The federal case ID number is 2:14-cv-04931-JHS.