['7728/99', 'KRTBNWS', '(No', 'Page)', '(Publication', 'page', 'references', 'are', 'not', 'available', 'for', 'this', 'document.)', 'infringement,', 'trademark', 'dilution,', 'unfair', 'competition', 'and', 'other', 'violations.', '"From', 'a', 'quality-control', 'perspective,', 'we', 'have', 'serious', 'questions', 'about', 'the', 'reimported', 'products,"', 'McCormick', 'said.', '“Once', 'products', 'go', 'to', 'export,', 'they', 'disappear', 'off', 'our', 'radar', 'screen', 'and', 'we', 'have', 'no', 'idea', 'where', "they've", 'been,', 'what', 'conditions', "they've", 'been', 'stored', 'in."', 'But', 'the', "company's", 'damages', 'will', 'be', 'difficult', 'to', 'quantify,', 'given', 'the', 'murkiness', 'of', 'the', 'gray', 'market', 'cigarette', 'trade,', 'in', 'which', 'few', 'hard', 'statistics', 'exist.', 'McCormick', 'could', 'not', 'specify', 'the', 'losses', 'to', 'Philip', "Morris'", '$14', 'billion', 'domestic', 'tobacco', 'business,', 'but', 'if', 'gray', 'marketers', 'took', 'as', 'little', 'as', '1', 'percent', 'of', 'its', '1998', 'U.S.', 'sales', 'of', '1.14', 'billion', 'cartons,', 'taking', '$9', 'a', 'carton,', 'the', 'company', 'would', 'have', 'lost', 'about', '$103', 'million', 'in', 'revenue.', 'Vic', 'Day,', 'a', 'spokesman', 'for', 'the', 'State', 'Board', 'of', 'Equalization,', 'which', 'tracks', 'the', 'business', 'for', 'sales', 'tax', 'purposes,', 'said', 'that', "California's", 'gray', 'market', 'in', 'cigarettes', 'is', 'growing.', 'But', 'stopping', 'it', 'will', 'be', 'complicated,', 'he', 'said,', 'especially', 'since', 'many', 'gray', 'marketers', 'scrupulously', 'follow', 'the', 'law.', 'The', 'board', 'recently', 'investigated', 'the', "state's", 'cigarette', 'trade', 'and', 'found', 'nothing', 'wrong,', 'Day', 'said:', '“Every', 'carton', 'we', 'looked', 'at', 'was', 'OK.', 'And', 'as', 'long', 'as', "they're", 'stamped', 'correctly,', 'if', "they're", 'paying', 'the', 'taxes,', "it's", 'legal', 'as', 'far', 'as', "we're", 'concerned."', 'All', 'this', 'is', 'familiar', 'to', 'Al', 'Cote,', 'who', 'owns', 'American', 'Check', 'Cashing', '&', 'Tobacco', 'at', '3041', 'McKee', 'Road,', 'where', 'a', 'carton', 'of', 'gray', 'market', 'Marlboras', 'normally', 'costs', '$24.48,', '$1.50', 'less', 'than', 'any', 'other', 'brand.', 'When', 'a', 'gray', 'market', 'wholesaler', 'approached', 'Cote', 'about', 'six', 'months', 'ago', 'to', 'sell', 'reimported', 'cigarettes,', 'he', 'said', 'he', 'checked', 'with', '"every', 'government', 'agency', 'I', 'could', 'think', 'of"', 'before', 'agreeing', 'to', 'stock', 'them.', 'And,', 'he', 'says,', "he's", 'not', 'alone.', '"You', 'just', 'see', 'the', 'tip', 'of', 'the', 'iceberg', 'with', 'me,"', 'he', 'said.', '"There', 'are', 'thousands', 'and', 'thousands', 'of', 'us', 'in', 'California', 'who', 'are', 'selling', 'the', 'product.', 'Just', 'walk', 'into', 'any', 'store', 'in', 'the', 'valley.”', '"It\'s', 'all', 'over', 'the', 'place.', "I'm", 'just', 'trying', 'to', 'stay', 'competitive."', 'Mercury', 'News', 'wire', 'services', 'contributed', 'to', 'this', 'report.', '--~~', 'INDEX', 'REFERENCES', '~--—', 'COMPANY', '(TICKER):', 'Philip', 'Morris', 'Cos.', '(MO)', 'Copr.', '©', 'West', '1999', 'No', 'Claim', 'to', 'Orig.', 'U.S.', 'Govt.', 'Works', '60z8ezeoz']