Plaintiffs North Atlantic Operating Company, Inc. (NAOC), National Tobacco Company, L.P. (NTC), and Republic Technologies International S.A.S. (Republic) have brought claims of counterfeiting and trademark infringement against Indiana Import LLC, its owners Ameer A. Salama and Shaker M. Hussein, as well as Areej 2020 Inc., doing business as Smoke & Vape Zone, an Ohio corporation.
The plaintiffs allege that the defendants have been selling and distributing counterfeit versions of their products, particularly cigarette rolling papers that carry imitations of their ZIG ZAG™ and NORTH ATLANTIC OPERATING COMPANY™ trademarks. Investigators working for the plaintiffs claimed to have been able to make multiple purchases from 2023 through 2025, buying large quantities of rolling papers directly from Indiana Import’s business address, the owners’ residences in Fishers, Indiana, and from Smoke & Vape Zone in Hamilton, Ohio. The plaintiffs claim the seized items used counterfeit versions of their marks and were sold at prices well below those of authentic ZIG-ZAG™ products.