That's a frivolous suit. They are grasping at straws.

http://theconversation.com/big-tobacco-vs-australia-philip-m...

Yes, it's a virtual threat.

Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be entirely clear. The case you refer to in Australia was apparently thrown out because of some dubious changes to the company ownership arrangements that appeared to have been made just for the purposes of bringing a lawsuit, when the change in cigarette packaging rules was already public knowledge by that time.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/dec/18/austra...

Yes, they played an empty hand, and when their bluff was called they promptly lost.