HAVANA – Bacardi this week sought U.S. records to explain the U.S. government’s decision to strip the spirits company of their right to the Havana Club brand and hand it to a Cuban state company partnered having a global rival.
Bacardi’s Freedom of knowledge Act request is the latest part of a long struggle with the Cuban government within the Havana Club trademark in the United States.
Cuba cannot sell its rum in the usa because of the U.S. trade embargo around the island, however it wishes to eventually gain access to the world’s largest rum market since U.S.-Cuban relations are improving.
Related
- How these health conscious guys from Toronto engineered a vodka that packs a flavour punch without the caloriesOntario Tories cry foul over LCBO lawyer’s ‘patronizing’ comments on distilleriesToronto Distillery Co. challenge to Ontario rules has ‘ramifications across the province,’ judge says
-
-
-
In January, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decided to allow Cuban state firm Cubaexport to join up the Havana Club name once more in the United States.
The move opened the doorway to Cubaexport and it is French partner, Pernod Ricard, the world’s second-largest spirits group, eventually selling Havana Club in the United States in direct competition with Bacardi products.
Bacardi, a former Cuban distiller now located in Bermuda, left Cuba after the 1959 revolution and subsequently acquired the rights towards the Havana Club trademark from the pre-revolutionary owner whose distillery was nationalized.
The United States previously recognized Bacardi’s claim that they can Havana Club under a statute aiming to protect owners of Cuban companies nationalized after Fidel Castro’s rebels came to power. Meanwhile, everywhere else on the planet, the name belonged to Cuba with the joint venture between Cubaexport and Pernod Ricard.
Bacardi’s Freedom of knowledge Act request filed on Monday asks to determine all records associated with the Havana Club trademark decision held through the executive office of The president, the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, work of Foreign Assets Control, the State Department, the nation’s Security Council, the Treasury Department or any other offices.
“The United states citizens possess the to know the truth of methods and why this unprecedented, sudden and silent action was taken through the United States government to reverse long-standing U.S. and international public policy and law,” Eduardo Sanchez, senior v . p . and general counsel of Bacardi, said inside a statement.
The Cuban government hasn’t commented involved. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office does not comment on specific cases, a spokesman said.
? Thomson Reuters 2016
