GURKHA V. DAVIDOFF YEAR OF THE DRAGON LAWSUIT SCHEDULED FOR SEPTEMBER 2025

[El Presidente]

This has been an interesting one to follow. Charlie has done a great job. 

Read the full story here: https://halfwheel.com/gurkha-v-davidoff-year-of-the-dragon-lawsuit-scheduled-for-september-2025/440926/

"The lawsuit, filed by Gurkha late last year, centers around the Davidoff Limited Edition 2024 Year of the Dragon cigar. Gurkha Cigar Group, Inc.—the plaintiff—licenses various trademarks from K. Hansotia & Co., Inc. Those include trademarks such as dragon, dragon fire, dragon lord, dragonslayer, imperial dragon, red dragon, and royal dragon. In addition, K. Hansotia & Co., Inc. filed for a trademark of “Year of Dragon” for cigars in November 2022. Gurkha claims that by releasing the Davidoff Limited Edition 2024 Year of the Dragon cigar last year, Davidoff has committed a trademark violation."

[SonicStag]

Interesting how their only going after Davidoff, hopefully Gurka lose.

[JohnS]

Apparently, Halfwheel have just reported that this case has now been settled out of court...

Gurkha, Davidoff Settle “Year of Dragon” Lawsuit

April 28, 2025 - Charlie Minato

The legal fight over the Year of (the) Dragon name has been settled.

Last week, attorneys representing the two sides in Gurkha Cigar Group Inc. v. Davidoff of Geneva USA Inc. sent a letter to the court asking for the case to be dismissed. Judge William P. Dimitrouleas of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida approved the request and ordered the case dismissed with prejudice.

Little is known about the settlement. The joint stipulation for dismissal said that each party would pay its own court costs. halfwheel requested comments from both sides. Davidoff did not reply, while Bianca Lopez, director of marketing for Gurkha, wrote, “It was an amicable agreement that was reached.”

K. Hansotia & Co., Inc.—presumably named after Gurkha’s owner Kaizad Hansotia—owns a variety of dragon-related trademarks including, dragon, dragon fire, dragon lord, dragonslayer, imperial dragon, red dragon, and royal dragon. That company also filed for a trademark on “Year of Dragon,” which Davidoff & Cie SA has opposed. It’s unclear what impact the settlement will have on the trademark process, which was suspended due to this lawsuit, which Gurkha filed in late 2023. Gurkha Cigar Group, Inc. has an arrangement to license the trademarks from K. Hansotia & Co., Inc.

In late 2023, Davidoff released the Davidoff Limited Edition 2024 Year of the Dragon cigar as part of its long-running Zodiac Series, which is named after the various symbols on the Chinese zodiac calendar. Davidoff was hardly alone. Asylum, De Los Reyes, Drew Estate, El Septimo, General Cigar Co., Habanos S.A., J.C. Newman, JM Tobacco, La Galera, Oliva, Maya Selva, Plasencia, Rocky Patel, United Cigars and Vega Fina also introduced Year of the Dragon-themed cigars. There’s no evidence that any other company was sued other than Davidoff.

Gurkha released its own dragon-themed cigars, five different blends using the Year of the Dragon name. Both companies—as well as a host of others—also released Year of (the) Snake cigars. K. Hansotia & Co. has a trademark on Year of Snake. The next symbol on the Zodiac calendar is horse, no company appears to have a trademark for horse or Year of Horse.

Source: https://halfwheel.com/gurkha-davidoff-settle-year-of-dragon-lawsuit/451334/

[BrightonCorgi]

I don't see how they could sue over that. They were smart to drop the suit.

[BoliDan]

More reasons to hate Gurkha. As if I needed more!

[BrightonCorgi]

19 hours ago, BoliDan said:

More reasons to hate Gurkha. As if I needed more!

Never tried a Gurka cigar. They get such a bad rap, I never bothered.

[Li Bai]

10 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

Never tried a Gurka cigar. They get such a bad rap, I never bothered.

Same here, they're not even cheap...

[CrazyIvan]

In Gurka's defense - If a company doesn't attempt to defend its trademark then they lose it. There is clear prior use of this term, but not as it pertains to cigars, so who knows how that would go? So I get why they'd sue, even if they realized later they couldn't hold onto it as others adopted the term.