The Supreme Court on Monday turned down an appeal by Lorillard Tobacco involving the sale of counterfeit Newport cigarettes.

Lorillard, a subsidiary of New York City-based Loews Corp., charged I&Q Liquors – a small retailer in Denver – of selling packages of Newport cigarettes, a brand that is manufactured by Lorillard.
Following the rejection of a district court to grant a preliminary injunction against I&G Liquors, a decision that was backed up by the10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Lorillard asked the Supreme Court to hear the case. The issue was whether the federal appeals court had made it too difficult to take action against retailers that sell counterfeit goods.
The appeals court found that as a small business, the retailer would suffer greater harm from the injunction than Lorillard would suffer from failing to obtain one.
Fighting the sale of fake products costs American businesses USD 200 billion to 250 billion annually in court papers.