Cuba Condemns US Appropriation of Havana Club Rum Trademark
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Havana, December 11 (NationPress) Cuba has characterized a recent US law as a 'theft of Cuban trademarks' after it secured Bacardi's Havana Club rum trademark in the American market amidst a protracted legal confrontation.
The official statement released by Cuba's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday asserted, 'The Ministry of Foreign Affairs firmly rejects the so-called 'Law to Not Recognise Stolen Trademarks in the United States,' which was recently enacted by the President of the United States.
Bacardi, a privately-owned spirits company based in Bermuda, abandoned Cuba in 1959 and is now the exclusive distributor of the Puerto Rico-produced Havana Club-branded rum in the US market, according to reports from Xinhua news agency.
For more than two decades, the Cuban government has been embroiled in legal disputes with Bacardi regarding the trademark rights in the US, where Cuban-made Havana Club rum is barred from entering due to the longstanding US trade embargo, economic blockade, and financial sanctions that have been in place since 1962.
The statement asserted that the legislation signed by US President Joe Biden is 'a new unilateral coercive measure that reinforces the blockade against the Cuban economy.'
Furthermore, the ministry argued that 'this law inflicts another setback on the global system of industrial property protection and underscores the United States' indifference to international law institutions.' It also stated that the law violates both the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights and the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.
The ministry described the legislation as effectively providing 'a license for piracy, enabling the theft of legitimately registered Cuban trademarks at the United States Patent and Trademark Office.'
