Peggy Chaudhry

Professor Peggy Chaudhry is an Associate Professor of International Business at the Villanova School of Business (Villanova University), where she has been teaching since 1991.¹
According to her website, Chaudhry is considered “an expert in intellectual property, illicit trade issues (particularly, counterfeit/grey markets and distribution channels), and international business management. Her research interests include managerial tactics to curb counterfeit trade, consumer complicity with counterfeit goods, and grey markets for consumer goods.”
Chaudhry is a member of the Advisory Board for Intellectual Property Rights (US Chamber of Commerce) and is frequently invited to present on issues related to intellectual property rights . The US Chamber of Commerce lists a tobacco company amongst its members.²

Collaboration with Professor Zimmerman

In 2009, Chaudhry collaborated with Professor Alan Zimmerman to produce a book on counterfeit trade from a business perspective, entitled The Economics of Counterfeit Trade: Governments, Consumers, Pirates and Intellectual Property Rights.
The pair released another book, Protecting Your Intellectual Property Rights, in 2013, which “describes successful anti-counterfeiting actions and prescribe measures IPR owners should take to protect their intellectual property.”³
There is no evidence to suggest the making of these books was financed by the tobacco industry.

JTI-Commissioned Expert

In 2012, tobacco company Japan Tobacco International (JTI) commissioned Chaudhry and Zimmerman to produce a report, which was subsequently submitted as expert advice in support of the company’s submission to the UK Government’s Consultation on plain (standardised) packaging of tobacco products.
The report, The Impact of Plain Packaging on the Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products, argued that plain packaging would incentivise the illicit trade of tobacco products and make it increasingly challenging to enforce adequate regulation to combat illicit trade. The authors also suggested that plain packaging would threaten successful, legitimate business as it would make it difficult for consumers to differentiate between legitimate tobacco products and illicit ones.⁴

TobaccoTactics Resources

• Industry Arguments Against Plain Packaging
• History of Plain Packaging: Developing the Intellectual Property Argument
• Countering Industry Arguments Against Plain Packaging: It Breaches Intellectual Property Rights
• Australia: Trademark Claims

Relevant Links

• Physicians for Smoke Free Canada, Packaging Phoney Intellectual Property Claims, June 2009, accessed 1 June 2011

TCRG Research

• ‘It will harm business and increase illicit trade’: an evaluation of the relevance, quality and transparency of evidence submitted by transnational tobacco companies to the UK consultation on standardised packaging 2012, K. Evans-Reeves, J. Hatchard, A. Gilmore, Tobacco Control, 2015,24(e2):e168-e177
• Representation and Misrepresentation of Scientific Evidence in Contemporary Tobacco Regulation: A Review of Tobacco Industry Submissions to the UK Government Consultation on Standardised Packaging, S. Ulucanlar, G. Fooks, J. Hatchard, A. Gilmore, PLOS Medicine, 2014,11(3):e1001629