Greg, I think this went on for ten years because the other shops were in small towns around Michigan and the guy just opened a huge location in Detroit with much fanfare that obviously caught someone's attention. It certainly could have been some sleazy laywer, but it's more likely it was somebody within Altadis/Habanos noticiting the news about a new "world class LCDH" in Detroit. I agree that the confusion part makes no sense... NOW. But I'm pretty sure that Cuba is hoping to be selling cigars in the US market within the next ten years. Now, imagine a United States where the Embargo was lifted, and you ask your wife to go to the La Casa Del Habano and pick you up a Cohiba Robusto, and she brings you back a dominican Cohiba Robusto from La Casa De La Habana. Now the confusion is obvious, sure, this is not the way things are now, but if Cuba litigates now and sets a precident that they still have legitimate interest in U.S. copyrights, their battle will be easier down the road. This is a business decision that makes sense, even if you think the Cuban governent are hypocritcal @$$holes for doing it (I'm not going to disagree with you there!) I saw one of these stores near my in-laws house in Ann Arbor, and I think he also stole the tobacco leaf logo of the LCDH, and in other ways tried to make his stores look like and LCDH. It's not just a coincidence. Now, does this make it less ironic that communist bandits are crying crocodile tears over someone else playing their game? No, it's pretty silly when you think about it, but like I said, I think it's in poor taste when ANYONE rips someone else off, and lately in the cigar industry its been everyone else ripping off Cuba. Sure, payback's a b!tch and all, but think of this as Cuba playing a warmup game for the legal clusterf0ck that the lifting of the embargo will entail.
