EnglishRespecting the rules
Philip Morris “Plus 173”.
Philip Morris has declared to the Canadian government that "Prohibiting the use of the terms "Light" and "Mild" on tobacco packaging was impermissible under numerous trade rules". Also in the judgment entered on March 11, 2005 , the action of Yesmoke would have been impermissible under numerous trade rules.
Yesmoke, today owes Philip Morris $173,734,291.62. The Number One online shop worldwide, with its 6 million shipments a year, allegedly made illicit earnings, from January 2000 to November 2004, selling to customers in the United States Marlboros manufactured for the European market and Marlboros made in the Philippines meant for the Far East.
Today Big Tobacco manufactures and distributes cigarettes all over the world that have significant and "secret" differences in their additives, and makers are not required to inform anyone about this. The additives are what primarily characterize cigarettes of different quality, though there are no differences in their prices based on these standards of quality.
Yesmoke does not intend to pay Philip Morris the sum requested, as the company has never been summoned by Swiss justice. The suit was entirely debated and concluded in American halls of justice. The payment of a similar sum would be impossible for Yesmoke; it would mean the closure of the Balerna company.
The on-line commerce
With the prospects of an online market that will allow consumers to buy directly from the manufacturer, and with international regulations that will bring order to duty and tax payments, without penalizing on-line sales, modern companies expect to be able to offer their products directly to the consumer.
The issue involves all on-line commerce. Mail-order sales, in fact, exalted and internationalized by the advent of electronic commerce, is ready to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life, with the elimination of international boundaries (but not customs duties, of course), allowing us to buy by mail not only in our own country but also anywhere in the world.
With a credit card, for example, we can already purchase goods in any country without worrying about different currencies. Based on these prospects of progress, companies that handle electronic commerce have reached stratospheric quotations on stock markets, see, for example the six billion dollars that is the market worth of Amazon.
But Philip Morris, that in times of the all-out war against smoking made a sandwich man out of its country calling it "Marlboro Country", is now trying to tame electronic commerce based on its own market strategies.
“A dangerous drifting mine”
Yesmoke, today owes Philip Morris $173,734,291.62. "We are pleased with the court's decision" said Virginia Murphy, senior vice president of compliance and brand integrity at Philip Morris USA. "We believe it sends a clear message that the law imposes significant penalties on those who infringe our intellectual property rights through unlawful Internet cigarette sales."
Judge Gerard E. Lynch
- It would override a complex and elaborate distribution system consolidated in decades of silences and compromises, because the products would turn out to be cheaper than those bought at the local store, even adding the shipping costs and with all customs duties fully paid.
- It would enable Consumer Protection to be set up, thanks to a new independent distribution channel, not subject to any vetoes or habits. Today information to consumers is not disclosed, because of the immense power of the cartel of manufacturers, who evidently can influence many governing bodies.
- It would prevent Big Tobacco from manufacturing cigarettes with conspicuous differences in ingredients and additives "to better satisfy the smokers' tastes, that differ from one country to the next". These chemical agents are added to cigarettes in variable quantities depending on what is allowed by the regulations of the individual countries; it is the additives that give cigarettes, even of the same brand, different standards of quality and price. In short, what the regulations forbid in one country can be done in another and cigarette makers take full advantage of the different rules.
If a smoker, who has smoked Marlboros for years with quality standards that do not coincide with those of his country, becomes ill (perhaps due to auto pollution) and sues Big Tobacco, the colossus could find itself obliged to pay. In fact, anyone in this business who wants to manufacture cigarettes with varying quality standards should be obliged to guarantee their correct distribution, and this Philip Morris is not able to do. On-line sales, therefore, represent a dangerous drifting mine for PM's finances.
Going against the market
It is ridiculous to think that a citizen, who is the real importer, should discipline himself and abstain from buying something he wants or that is cheaper on Internet and that is legally sold in other countries, just because the manufacturer has not destined them to his specific market.
It is absurd to have to passively accept a product whose ingredients have never been made known to the authorities or to the consumers. And it is unreasonable to think that it must be the online sellers who have to disentangle themselves from the thousands of vetoes and prohibitions of manufacturers, to know which web page has to be censored for each specific country.
If we punish online commerce, instead of encouraging it as the free market is demanding, anyone wanting to enter the market with a better or more economical product, will find himself blocked by an expensive distribution system, consolidated in decades of silence and compromises. It enables the colossi of tobacco to impose all sorts of vetoes and conditions, conforming to a view of the market that up to today has been accepted passively.
The Marlboro Man: Jack Holleran, today ex-Senior Vice President of Compliance and Brand Integrity Philip Morris USA, declared: --with Yesmoke we have been successful every step of the way--
A great game, a stately strategy, but, as usual, there is an aspect that makes the whole situation grotesque: the most important figure involved in the issue is missing: the Customer, the supreme judge in a free market.
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