From CUBAEXPORT, the Cuban food and sundry products export enterprise

ONCE again, the authorities of the United States have taken actions aimed at affecting legitimate rights in the area of intellectual property acquired in that country by Cuban agencies.

The application to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to renew the Havana Club trademark by the Cuban enterprise CUBAEXPORT has been denied by officials of that institution.

That administrative body acted by virtue of instructions it received from the Treasury Department. Ignoring the international obligations of the United States and its own legislation, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), under the Treasury, denied that specific license, claiming that the State Department considered the granting of such a license to be inconsistent with U.S. government policy.

The real reason behind that denial is the desire to satisfy the interests of the Bacardi company, which for more than a decade has carried out numerous actions aimed at usurping the Havana Club trademark, particularly in the United States. One notable example of those actions is its responsibility in drafting Section 211 and then following up to ensure that the regulation was passed by Congress in October 1998.

In February 2002, the Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the World Trade Organization qualified Section 211 as incompatible with the principles on which that organization is based, and called on the United States to adjust that regulation in line with international agreements on intellectual property to which it is a signatory. To date, there has not been even a minimal attempt by that government to comply with the DSB’s decision.

The Havana Club trademark, registered in more than 100 countries and internationally recognized, identifies a rum that is genuinely Cuban and considered to be one of the best in the world.

To initiate — as Bacardi has announced — the marketing of a rum produced in Puerto Rico under the Havana Club trademark is to cheat consumers with that product.

CUBAEXPORT energetically rejects this conduct, and will undertake all legitimate legal and business actions to oppose the decision made by U.S. authorities, which is violating every principle of trade ethics by preventing this enterprise from exercising its legitimate right to preserve its registration of he Havana Club trademark, which was acquired in that country, in line with prevailing laws, as far back as 1976.

Havana, October 6, 2006