Josh Kesselman, HBI International Founder, Announces $8.7 Million Award over RAW Lookalike

New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - February 3, 2025) - Josh Kesselman, founder of BBK Tobacco & Foods (dba HBI International, now HBI Innovations), has announced the recent award of more than $8.7 million against a group of companies involved in manufacturing, importing, and distributing rolling papers and cones that copied the packaging design of BBK's RAW® rolling papers and other RAW® products. HBI International is an independent global provider of high-quality rolling papers, cones, and other smoking innovations, including its well-known RAW® rolling papers.

The United States District Court for the District of Nevada issued its order on December 17th 2024.

On December 17th, 2024, the United States District Court for the District of Nevada issued its order awarding BBK more than $3 million to reflect disgorgement of the Defendants' wrongful profits and more than $5.6 million in statutory damages for their violation of BBK's copyrights covering its package designs.

The case concerned products sold under the "Brocone" brand that were exported from India by Brocone Organic Private Limited. The "Brocone" products copied the packaging of BBK's RAW line of products. In September 2023, BBK obtained a stipulated injunction and judgement in a confidential amount against Defendant NEPA Wholesale, Inc., the primary distributor of "Brocone" products in the United States. Thereafter, the case continued to proceed against the manufacturer, Brocone Organic Private Limited, its U.S. importer, AIMS Group USA Corporation, and another U.S. distributor, Florida One Wholesale, Inc.

The Court's December 2024 Order awarding BBK Tobacco and Foods more than $8.7 million marked the end of a more than two-year effort to protect BBK's trademarks and copyrights against such overt copying and is a strong follow up to a previous legal victory where a jury in Chicago found "willful infringement" by a different RAW competitor and awarded substantial monetary damages.

Josh Kesselman, founder of Tobacco & Foods (dba HBI International)

"We have dedicated our lives to making the best rolling products on the planet. Our customers are our family. We can't let anyone willfully trick our family into buying something that isn't genuine RAW," said Josh Kesselman, founder and president of BBK. "Whether it's a counterfeit or a look-alike, we must protect our family from that sort of awful deception. We all deserve better, and we all get higher together!"

More information about RAW and their full range of products can be found here https://rawthentic.com/.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/239463