A clear win for Bacardi as U.S. declares trademark on Havana Club expired

A clear win for Bacardi as U.S. declares trademark on Havana Club `expired'

By Doreen Hemlock
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted August 9 2006

A new rum is coming to South Florida this week: the Havana Club brand --
but made in Puerto Rico, not Cuba, and clear, not dark, in color.

Bermuda-based liquor giant Bacardi Ltd. is launching its latest version
of the veteran brand for the United States, nearly a decade after it
halted production amid a trademark dispute with the group making rum
under the same name in Cuba.

Central to the dispute is the 45-year-old U.S. trade embargo against the
communist-led island that bans sales of Cuban products in the United
States. The rum battle stretched far, even to the Geneva-based World
Trade Organization and the U.S. Supreme Court.

The latest chapter ended this month, when the U.S. Patent and Trademark
Office declared Cuba's registration of the Havana Club trademark as
"canceled/expired." That means Cuba can no longer claim rights to the
brand in the United States.

Bacardi had bought the brand name from the Arechebala family, who
created the original Havana Club in Cuba in 1935. They exported the rum
to the United States before the Castro regime seized the business in
1960, sending them into exile.

U.S. trademark law generally stems from use of a brand name, so the
Cuban-European company now making the rum in Cuba faced legal hurdles
for failing to use the name in the United States.

Bacardi insists its new clear rum is authentic, based on the original
Havana Club recipe.

Even production in Puerto Rico is not new. During World War II, the
Arechebalas made Havana Club both in Cuba and the U.S. territory of
Puerto Rico to keep supplies flowing and avert higher wartime taxes on
U.S. sales from Cuba.

But rum aficionados will find much changed in the clear rum sold in
750-milliliter bottles for a suggested $19.99.

This time, Bacardi aims to tap both the U.S. craze for premium white
spirits, such as Grey Goose vodka, and the recent upswing in sales of
rum -- up 5 percent to 7 percent yearly, trailing only tequila in
growth, spokeswoman Patricia Neal said Tuesday.

Neal said Bacardi is launching the brand in Florida because it's the top
state for rum and because a debut in South Florida bars, restaurants and
clubs creates celebrity "buzz" that helps sell the drink in New York and
other U.S. markets.

Doreen Hemlock can be reached at dhemlock@sun-sentinel.com or 305-810-5009.

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