Bacardi and Cuba’s legal battle over Havana Club trademark continues

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 01. 31. 11:07

A bitter legal battle continues between Bacardi and the Cuban government over ownership of the Havana Club brand. A Virginia court ruled in favor of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and Cubaexport, Cuba’s foreign trade center, and dismissed Bacardi’s lawsuit for the second time. The company sought to reclaim rights to rum nationalized during Fidel Castro’s revolution.

The Virginia court, Reuters reported, accepted the arguments of the USPTO and Cubaexport and dismissed Bacardi’s lawsuit. The ruling means Cubaexport will continue to use the Havana Club trademark outside the United States. The USPTO did not comment on the ruling, but the French group Pernod Ricard, which distributes Havana Club rum globally, welcomed the court’s decision.

Bacardi plans to appeal

Bacardi has indicated it will appeal the ruling, criticizing the court’s approach, which it says completely subordinates itself to the USPTO’s discretion. The company claims that the USPTO’s decision ignored both existing law and its own regulations.

However, the court’s decision contradicts an executive order issued by US President Joe Biden on December 1, 2024. The presidential order prohibits US courts and authorities from recognizing trademarks that were nationalized by Cuban authorities after the 1959 revolution. This measure strengthens Bacardi’s claim to the Havana Club trademark, given that the company began producing Havana Club rum in Puerto Rico in 1994, based on a recipe inherited from the Arechabala family heirs.