Big Tobacco: Could Plain Packaging All Go Up in Smoke?

An unprecedented stoush is shaping up around Australia’s trailblazing Tobacco Plain Packaging Bill that’s before the Senate. The legislation mandates the use of drab packaging from July 2012 in a bid to make smoking less appealing, and reduce deaths from smoking-related illnesses. Amid shouting about the "nanny state", Big Tobacco is planning a High Court challenge potentially claiming billions of dollars worth of compensation for the Commonwealth’s acquisition of intellectual property. Despite the core argument about public good, University of New South Wales’ law professor George Williams says the outcome of such a case is unpredictable.