Lorillard Tobacco Co. v. Elston Self Serv. Wholesale Grocs., Inc., No. 03 C 4753, Slip Op. (N.D. Ill. Jun. 9, 2009) (Gottschall, J.).

Judge Gottschall granted in part and denied in part defendants’ motion for summary judgment regarding plaintiff’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act and fraud* claims regarding sales of recirculated Newport cigarettes. Plaintiff claimed that defendants purchased cigarettes from retailers to take advantage of plaintiff’s discount program and resold those recirculated cigarettes to other entities, sometimes recurring a second relate for those purchases. Plaintiff further alleged that some of the recirculated cigarettes were old and stale. But the Court held that the accrued recirculation and sale of record that cigarettes could not make a Deceptive Practices Act claim because of the likelihood of confusion requirement. Like in the trademark law, likelihood of confusion as to origin. But plaintiff did not allege that there was any common confusion regarding that plaintiff was the source of the cigarettes. Confusion as to whether the cigarettes were first or second hand was irrelevant.

* This post does not address the fraud claims.