SPIRITS INDUSTRY
Court backs Bacardi's use of the name Havana Club
A federal judge ruled in favor of Bacardi in the Havana Club dispute.
The decision will be appealed.
BY ELAINE WALKER
ewalker@MiamiHerald.com
Bacardi has added another legal victory in its long-running dispute with
Pernod Ricard over the right to sell Havana Club rum.
A federal judge rejected a lawsuit by Pernod Ricard that sought to block
Bacardi from selling the Havana Club rum brand in the United States.
The suit filed by Pernod in 2006 in U.S. District Court in Wilmington,
Del., came after Bacardi USA launched Havana Club in
Miami. The rum is made in Puerto Rico using the recipe developed by the
Arechabala family, which created the rum brand in Cuba in 1935.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Sue Robinson on Tuesday is just the
latest volley in the dispute over who has the rights to the Havana Club
trademark. It's a battle that has dragged on for more than a decade,
winding its way through a variety of courts and government agencies.
Bacardi executives hailed the recent court ruling.
``We believe this decision is important in that it protects our ability
to accurately portray the Cuban heritage and geographic origin of our
rums,'' John Esposito, president and chief executive officer of Coral
Gables-based Bacardi USA, said in a statement.
Pernod currently sells rum under the Havana Club name internationally,
while Bacardi uses the trademark in the United States. The Havana Club
brand also is sold in Cuba.
The focus of Pernod's current argument was that using the Havana Club
name for a rum not made in Cuba would be misleading to consumers.
Robinson decided that Bacardi's Havana Club rum has a ``Cuban
heritage,'' derived from the Arechabala family recipe. In her 22-page
ruling, the judge also found that because Bacardi's labels ``truthfully
[and prominently]'' show that its rum is ``distilled and crafted in
Puerto Rico,'' the labels are ``neither false nor misleading.''
Pernod Ricard USA issued a statement saying it ``believes that this
decision is legally and factually incorrect, and that the continued sale
of Puerto Rican rum under the Havana Club name would deceive consumers.''
The company said it intends to appeal the decision to the United States
Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/04/08/1568325/court-backs-bacardis-use-of-the.html
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