Havana-based Cubatabaco asked the justices to consider arguments that its rights under U.S. trademark law were being violated. The high court made no comment, turning down the appeal as part of a list of orders released in Washington.

The rejection lets Swedish Match's General Cigar unit continue using a name it has been putting on its Dominican-made cigars in the U.S. for more than two decades. Stockholm-based Swedish Match bought General Cigar in 2000.

"Cubatabaco had no standing to challenge General Cigar's ownership of the Cohiba mark in the United States," General Cigar General Counsel Gerry Roerty said in a statement. General Cigar said it plans to focus on its bid to halt sales of what it considers "counterfeit Cohiba cigars," including others made in the Dominican Republic and sold over the Internet.

Cubatabaco said in a statement it will "continue to fight for the rights to the Cohiba trademark in the United States" through a pending application with the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers the ban on sale of goods from the communist nation.

115 Other Countries

Cubatabaco has registered the Cohiba trade name in 115 other countries. The name was first used for a cigar created decades ago for Cuban dictator Fidel Castro.

In its lawsuit, Cubatabaco argued that the Cohiba name has meaning to U.S. consumers -- signaling a premium Cuban-made cigar -- even though the U.S. trade embargo bars the company from exporting its products to its northern neighbor.

A federal judge in New York barred General Cigar from using the Cohiba label in 2004, saying Cubatabaco gained rights to the name during a five-year period when General Cigar dropped the brand. The judge pointed to stories about the Cuban-made cigars in U.S. magazines, saying the publicity helped make Cohiba a "famous" trademark, owned by Cubatabaco.

The New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling. The panel said that under federal trademark law, Cubatabaco couldn't acquire rights through publicity while the trade embargo was in place.

The rejection followed the advice of the Bush administration, which urged the Supreme Court not to hear the case.

The case is Empresa Cubana del Tabaco v. General Cigar, 05- 417.