Bacardi bill returns to D.C.

Bacardi looks once again to Washington for help in its battle with the Cuban government over the trademark to Havana Club.

24 Mar 2007 // Much of Florida's congressional delegation has quietly renewed an effort to help Miami-based Bacardi in a controversial effort to secure the rights to the Havana Club trademark, a years-long quest marked by questions about the company's political clout.

Detractors such as liberal-leaning watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington suggest the bill -- which has twice before been introduced by members of Florida's delegation -- is payback to the influential company and could hurt the ability of other U.S. companies to protect their trademarks in Cuba.

''It's a private bill, helps only one company, and it's something that undermines American trademarks,'' said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.

But bill supporters say it restores the company's rights to the trademark rum -- to the detriment of Fidel Castro.

''The question is whether the cause is right, not how much influence a particular group has,'' said Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Oviedo, who backs the measure. ``I believe this company has a legitimate right to the name -- it was stolen by Castro.''

FUNDRAISING PROBE

The move to reintroduce the legislation comes just months after a Washington whistle-blower group asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether the liquor maker illegally used corporate resources to organize fundraising events for Florida's two senators, Democrat Bill Nelson and Republican Mel Martinez. The FEC is investigating the matter.

Nelson filed a bill on behalf of the company earlier this month; Martinez is a co-sponsor. Nine House members from Florida have signed on to the House bill.

Nelson and Martinez dismissed the complaint and any suggestion linking contributions to the legislation. Bacardi says it is confident the complaint to the FEC will be dismissed. It questioned the timing of the complaint -- a month before the November election.

The bill has been introduced in the House by Rep. Robert Wexler, D-Boca Raton, who along with Feeney is a member of the congressional caucus on intellectual property and piracy prevention.

''There is broad bipartisan support to support the legitimate rights of trademark holders,'' said Bacardi spokeswoman Patricia Neal.

Bacardi says it bought the rights to the Havana Club name in 1997 from the rightful owner, the Arechabala family, who had the trademark seized from them without any compensation when Castro took power. Cubaexport, a Cuban government company that partners with French liquor giant Pernod Ricard, sells rum under the Havana Club name in Cuba and around the world -- but not in the United States because of the trade embargo.

When Bacardi U.S.A. launched Havana Club in Florida last August, the U.S. subsidiary of Pernod Ricard filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Delaware to keep Bacardi from selling the rum.

Although that suit remains pending, U.S. courts have consistently ruled that Havana Club Holdings, the name of the French/Cuban joint venture, has no right to the trademark in the United States. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office last August deemed the current registration held by Cubaexport on the Havana Club trademark as ``canceled/expired.''

`VALID DISPUTE'

''We have a corporate constituent based in Florida, and they have a dispute with the Cuban government, and the senator feels they have a valid dispute and feels that it can be addressed legislatively,'' said spokesman Dan McLaughlin.

The debate dates back nearly a decade: Bacardi scored a major victory in 1998 when former Florida Republican Sen. Connie Mack tweaked a spending bill to include language essentially granting the company the U.S. rights to the name by preventing U.S. courts from enforcing trademarks confiscated by the Cuban government.

But after the French government complained, the World Trade Organization in 2001 ordered the United States to revise the law.

The company has been lobbying since then for the new legislation, which it says would effectively grant it the trademark as well as satisfy WTO rules so that it doesn't apply only to Cuban firms.