Decision
angers Bacardi, which agreed to buy U.S. rights in 1994 from the Arechabala family that fled
Cuba in 1960
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office this
week awarded a trademark for Havana Club rum-Cuba's most famous brand-to the
Cuban government, reversing a policy that denied Havana rights to the brand in
the U.S. The move is expected to
reignite longstanding tension between Bacardi Ltd. and the Cuban government. The Patent Office, which issued a document
reviewed by The Wall Street Journal confirming the award, said it doesn't
comment on trademark applications.
Privately held Bacardi has been selling
Havana Club branded rum in the U.S. since 1994. The company acquired the U.S.
rights from Havana Club's founding family, who fled Cuba around 1960 after the
brand was seized by the government. Bacardi's Havana Club rum is made in Puerto
Rico due to the U.S. economic embargo. Bacardi
Executive Vice President of External Affairs Rick Wilson said the company would
"take every means available to fight [the decision]," including
litigation. "It's appalling that this administration goes ahead and grants
this license to the Cuban government for assets that were confiscated," he
said of the Obama administration.
Pernod Ricard SA, which has a joint
venture with the Cuban government, has been selling a Cuban-made version of the
rum outside the U.S. The Patent
Office's decision could open a new battle for the future of the U.S. rum market
by allowing the Cuban government to sell Cuban-made Havana Club in the U.S. for
the first time in decades once the U.S. embargo is lifted. Pernod Ricard said that Cubaexport, the Cuban
entity that applied for the U.S. trademark for Havana Club, received a
trademark license for 15 days, which is when the trademark was slated to lapse. The company has applied for a 10-year
extension of its trademark through 2026 and expects to receive it. A spokesman
said the decision doesn't have "any business impact because of the
embargo," which prevents it from selling Cuban-made rum in the U.S.
Havana Club was Cuba's second-largest rum
brand at the time of the 1959 revolution behind Bacardi. The Bacardi family was
able to continue to make its rum after the revolution because they had
distilleries in Puerto Rico and Mexico, Mr. Wilson said, but Havana Club's
founding family-the Arechabalas-only operated in Cuba. So the Arechabala
family's distilleries were nationalized.
The Arechabala family failed to renew its trademark registration for
Havana Club in 1973, according to Pernod Ricard. Three years later, the Cuban
government secured a trademark for the brand.
It joined with Paris-based Pernod Ricard in 1993 to handle sales of the
brand world-wide, according to Pernod Ricard's account of what happened.
