While Cuba is obviously hypocritical when it comes to copyright infringement, does it really make it alright to say that because Cuba did it, Americans should do it back to them? While many of the old marcas; Partagas, Romeo y Julieta etc. are old names that were stolen from the people who owned the farms stolen in the revolution, in recent history most of the intellectual property "borrowing" has been going the opposite direction. Some of the more recent marcas like Cohiba are creations of Cubatobacco/Habanos S.A. and IMO, it's just as tacky and bad for the industry when businesses and manufacturers from the U.S. and the "other islands" steal Cuban trademarks than when the Cubans blatantly steal other's ideas. If the embargo does get lifted, it will only make what would have already been a huge legal nightmare even bigger, more expensive and uglier for everybody in the business. That kind of rip off marketing confuses a lot of new consumers who are already trying to navigate a dizzying array of choices no matter who is doing it.
