Healthier smoker in liquidation !

moonshadow

Just seen on the journal that receivers have been appointed to above company, disappointing for all the employees , franchisees and public who used them .

StaticNoise

IRISH E-CIGARETTE STARTUP Healthier Smoker is being shut down a few months after promising a raft of new staff hires at its Waterford factory and unveiling multimillion-euro expansion plans.

The fledgling “vaping specialist” and producer of E-cigarette liquids will be wound up after multinational cigarette importer Japan Tobacco International (JTI) sued it for allegedly ripping off the copyright for a string of its brands.

A post on Healthier Smoker’s Facebook page yesterday said the company had to shut down its website “due to circumstances beyond (its) control” and the social media listing would also be deleted within 48 hours. The reasoning behind this decision is based on legal proceedings that were issued against us by a large tobacco company for copyright infringement,” the post said. There was confusion among customers as several said their local stores were still selling the company’s products, while others were closed.

Only two months ago, Healthier Smoker was heralding ambitious growth forecasts - including 80 new jobs at its Waterford plant and “potentially up to 1,000 jobs over the next 12 months” if all went to plan.

At the time, company secretary and co-director Stephen Ryan said the company expected to be worth €100 million in only five years through export growth.

But last month JTI, which sells cigarettes including Benson & Hedges, Camel and Silk Cut in Ireland, launched a High Court case against Healthier Smoker after claiming the E-cigarette company was passing off its own products as the tobacco giant’s brands. Healthier Smoker’s liquids had featured names like “Kamel Blend” and “Purple Silk”.

Liquidators from DMFN chartered accountants were installed to wind up Healthier Smoker on Friday and in court yesterday they agreed to orders putting a temporary ban on any sales, advertising or manufacture of the offending articles.

The case returns to court on September 16.


In a statement, a spokesman for JTI said it had “invested heavily” in building its brands and they were its “most precious assets”, and the court orders were welcome.
“Distinctive packaging is key for fair competition and allows adult smokers to choose their tobacco products easily and without confusion,” he said.

Ryan has not returned calls for comment today.

http://businessetc.thejournal.ie/healthier-smoker-in-liquidation-1650357-Sep2014/

I just read the article there. It is a big mess-up.

Unofficially, I heard that the guys were asked and told to remove the labels, so you may have noticed a decline in the tobacco flavours available in recent times. They were told to take the name out and whatnot, to avoid infringement.

This idea that they had to close full-stop is not planned. The website was down, but as far as I know, there was a genuine redevelopment taking place, rather than the website being taken down to avoid the verdict of the courts/liquidators, etc.

It sucks for the staff, and especially for all of the hard work that went into it. I can see other companies being hit, particularly across Europe.

masonchat

Its probably the only brand i have never bought anything from , but its seems rather silly the way they named and packaged their products, a school child would know better to be fair

Samba

masonchat wrote: »

Its probably the only brand i have never bought anything from , but its seems rather silly the way they named and packaged their products, a school child would know better to be fair

I feel really bad for anyone who lost their job, ultimately the fault lies on the shoulders of the marketing dept and ultimately management who signed off on it. It's painfully obvious they took a page out of Dekang's book with their tobacco flavor names.

Good luck suing a Chinese company for copyright infringement, but an EU company adopting the same marketing tactics is begging to be dragged through the courts.

Maybe they'll have a chance of getting back in business under a different company.

AndrzejL

Ouch... I was buying off them for quite a while. I am going to have to find another supplier...

Cheers.

Andrzej

batchuba

Boo. I just switched to their "wicked" brand, on account of it apparently containing distilled water instead of ethanol.

Not that I figured the ethanol was anything to worry about - but why choose to inhale ethanol when water does just fine?

Does anyone know of any other juice brands which do not contain any alcohol/ethanol?

Cheers