Last month, Don Abram Harris Cigars, a Maryland-based cigar company, filed a lawsuit seeking $8 billion from Philip Morris USA, arguing the cigarette company was unlawfully trying to stop the cigar company from selling a cigar called “Marlboro Man” and trying to trademark the name. Now, the tables have turned.
On Monday, Philip Morris USA filed its own lawsuit against Don Abram Harris Cigars.
This suit—Philip Morris USA, Inc. v. Don Abram Harris Cigars, LLC—has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia; Altria, the parent company of Philip Morris USA, is based in Richmond, Va. The Don Abram Harris suit was filed in federal court in Maryland.
Very little of the 37-page complaint from Philip Morris is unexpected. In the complaint, the cigarette company, which sells the Marlboro brand in the U.S., said it has 29 active trademarks related to Marlboro and mentioned that the first American trademark for the brand was filed more than a century ago.
In early 2025, Don Abram Harris Cigars announced a new cigar called Marlboro Man, which founder Abram Harris says is inspired by his father, Joseph Harris, who worked on tobacco fields in Upper Marlboro, Md. In March 2025, Harris filed for a “Marlboro Man” trademark.
Philip Morris says that it contacted Don Abram Harris Cigars in June 2025 to ask the company to stop using the Marlboro Man mark, something that is backed up by the Maryland lawsuit. As was noted in documents filed in that lawsuit, the cigarette company offered to allow the cigar company a certain amount of time to sell through existing inventory, a common proposal in trademark disputes, but those offers were rejected. Instead, Harris asked Philip Morris for payment in exchange for stopping the Marlboro Man cigars and giving up on his trademark filing.
Last September, an attorney for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office warned that Harris’ “Marlboro Man” trademark could be confused with a variety of Marlboro trademarks owned by Philip Morris USA. On July 21, less than a week after Harris filed his lawsuit, the USPTO issued a nonfinal action, rejecting Harris’ application because “the applied-for mark consists of or includes matter that may falsely suggest a connection with Philip Morris USA Inc. Although Philip Morris USA Inc. is not connected with the goods and/or services provided by applicant under the applied-for mark, Philip Morris USA Inc. is so well-known that consumers would presume a connection.”
Harris can appeal the USPTO decision.
The complaint documents more than a half dozen instances of Don Abram Harris Cigars’ press releases and other promotions of the Marlboro Man cigars during the last 20 months.
In Abram Harris’ lawsuit, he argues that the trademark issues have cost him a potential $50 million investment from a Maryland radiologist. Philip Morris USA argues that consumers are likely to confuse Abram Harris’ cigars with being a Philip Morris product due to the popularity of Marlboro cigarettes.
It also raises the point that Philip Morris USA is subject to laws and legal agreements that the cigar company is not. Explicitly mentioned in the lawsuit is the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement (MSA), a landmark legal agreement between Big Tobacco companies and state attorneys general. In exchange for giving up their right to sue these cigarette companies over the damages inflicted on state public health systems due to cigarettes and the lack of warnings about the known health risks of smoking, the cigarette companies offered up a historic settlement—estimated to be worth more than $200 billion and counting in annual payments to the states—as well as to agree to a variety of advertising restrictions.
One of the main targets for the advertising restrictions was Marlboro Man, the decades-long campaign that featured cowboys and Marlboro cigarettes.
Introduced in the 1950s, the ads quickly morphed into a specific campaign around a cowboy, oftentimes with a horse. A variety of people played a “Marlboro Man,” including some noted actors, but Darrell Winfield is best known for the role. While MSA, a civil settlement, didn’t outlaw the Marlboro Man, it placed a variety of restrictions on where and how the affected cigarette companies could advertise, including billboards. As a result of MSA, the Marlboro Man campaign was phased out in the U.S.
The cigarette company has requested a jury trial and is seeking to have the court order Don Abram Harris Cigars to stop using the Marlboro Man name in anyway, destory any existing Marlboro Man-branded products or advertising materials, as well as a variety of monetary damages and attorney’s fees.
Philip Morris USA is being represented by McGuireWoods. The Maryland-based lawsuit showed that DLA Piper, a different firm, previously communicated with Harris on Philip Morris’ behalf.
Overall Score
Abram Harris
Don Abram Harris Cigars
Litigation
Marlboro Man
Philip Morris USA Inc.
Philip Morris USA Inc. v. Don Abram Harris Cigars LLC
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia
