Leading business organizations in the U.S. yesterday issued a joint statement opposing the Australian government´s proposed legislation on plain packaging.

The joint statement was issued by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, Council for International Business, National Foreign Trade Council, Emergency Committee for American Trade, US-ASEAN Business Council and the TransAtlantic Business Dialogue.
The signatories are "strongly convinced that the plain/generic packaging proposal will have a detrimental effect on the integrity of the protection of intellectual property around the world, while its potential effects on public health are not encouraging either."
The business groups stated that "plain packaging risks establishing a precedent of IP destruction for an entire industry through government mandate that would be very damaging to the legitimate interests of trademark owners to associate their brands with their products, a fundamental protection under trademark law."
The complete statement can be viewed here. (pi)