[inti-net] Ministry of Foreign Affairs Statement

http://www.granma.cu/ingles/news-i/17may-Ministry%20of.html

Havana. May 17, 2012

Ministry of Foreign Affairs Statement

ON May 14, 2012, the United States Supreme Court denied the Cuban company Cubaexport the opportunity to defend its right to renew the registration of the prestigious trademark Havana Club with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), given the refusal on the part of the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to issue the license needed by the Cuban company to renew the trademark, which was registered in the U.S. from 1976 through 2006.

OFAC's refusal to provide the license was based on Section 211 of the 1998 Congressional Omnibus law which prohibits the recognition and renovation of trademarks associated with properties nationalized by the Cuban government, approved as a result of maneuvers by the anti-Cuban Miami mafia and their allies in Congress who receive large financial contributions from the Bacardi Company. Bacardi is the real promoter of the measures taken against Cubaexport and intends to usurp the trademarks and markets of legitimate, genuine Cuban rum.

Since 1995, Cubaexport, along with the French company Pernod Ricard which distributes Havana Club rum, has defended its right to register the widely recognized trademark. The company's position has been supported by the World Trade Organization's dispute resolution panel. The panel ruled against the United States and called for the elimination of the aforementioned Section, which it considers illegal.

The United States government is entirely responsible for these events. During the court proceedings which have come to their unjust conclusion, OFAC argued that it could not issue the license as required by the spurious Section 211, which would have allowed the Havana Club trademark registration to be renewed, because the State Department had directed them not to do so, indicating that such a step would not be in line with U.S. policy toward Cuba.

This action is a serious violation of the commitments the United States has made in terms of industrial property rights, which oblige the government to protect trademarks belonging to Cuban companies and institutions. This case, and others in progress against Cuban patents and trademarks within U.S. courts, has exposed the complicity of the United States government in the usurpation of Cuban rights and trademarks.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs demands that the United States government immediately grant, to the Cuban entity Cubaexport, the license which will allow the renewal of the Havana Club trademark.

Cuba has consistently respected, with no discrimination whatsoever, the obligations established in virtue of international law with regards to industrial property, which has ensured that more than 5,000 U.S. patents and trademarks have benefited, and continue to benefit, from their registration in our country.

If the U.S. government does not act, it will bear prime responsibility for the theft of the Havana Club trademark from its rightful owner, the Cubaexport company, and the negative consequences which could result from its actions in terms of reciprocal protection of industrial property.

Havana, May 16, 2012

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