Twenty-five members of Congress signed a letter calling for a reversal of the Obama Administration’s “unprecedented decision to grant a license to allow Cubaexport, an entity wholly owned by the Cuban government, to renew an expired trademark for Havana Club rum in the U.S.”
The Cuban government confiscated, without compensation, the Jose Arechabula Co., which formerly produced Havana Club. Bacardi paid members of the Arechabula family for rights to the Havana Club name.
The bi-partisan letter noted the Office of Foreign Assets Control revoked a prior license to Cubaexport when Cubaexport “attempted to transfer rights to the illegally obtained trademark to Pernod Ricard, its joint venture partner.” OFAC later denied a license to Cubaexport in 2006 when it attempted to renew the illegally obtained trademark registration.
The bipartisan letter noted that a federal statute expressly prohibits registration of a “mark, trade name or commercial name that is the same as or substantially similar to a mark, trade name or commercial name that was used in connection with a business or assets that were confiscated unless the original owner has expressly consented.”
The letter was addressed to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin.