Opinion ID: 222510
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Bacardi's Sales of Havana Club Brand Rum

Text: In 1994, Bacardi filed a federal trademark application for use of the Havana Club mark on rum in the United States, [4] and, for a short time in 1995, Bacardi imported from the Bahamas and sold in this country a nominal amount of rum labeled with that mark. Soon after those limited sales, the JV filed suit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York to enjoin Bacardi's use of the Havana Club trademark. While that action was pending, Bacardi purchased from the Arechabala family any remaining rights they might have had to the Havana Club mark and the related goodwill of the business, along with any rum business assets the family owned. Later, following OFAC's revocation of permission for the transfer of the Havana Club mark to the JV in 1997, the JV's case against Bacardi was dismissed. See Havana Club Holding, S.A. v. Galleon S.A., 203 F.3d 116, 121, 135 (2d Cir.2000). In August 2006, just days after Cubaexport's federal trademark registration of Havana Club expired, Bacardi began selling rum in Florida using Havana Club as the brand name. The rum was distilled in Puerto Rico and was made using the Arechabala family recipe. [5] Bacardi took three years to develop the product, due to regulatory and production requirements, and, according to a member of the Arechabala family, it turned out to be almost identical to the original Havana Club rum made by the family in Cuba. The bottle in which Bacardi's rum was sold appears below. On the front of the bottle, the phrase Havana Club appears in large stylized letters, followed by the word BRAND in much smaller letters. Below that, in letters of prominent though slightly smaller size than those in the brand name and in a different font, the words PUERTO RICAN RUM appear. Beneath that, in smaller letters and different color ink, the label says HAVANA CLUB RUM. The words Havana Club are also repeated several times around the neck of the bottle. The back of the bottle includes a statement in clearly legible type that reads as follows: Havana Club Rum is a premium rum distilled and crafted in Puerto Rico using the original Arechabala family recipe. Developed in Cuba circa 1930, this finely crafted spirit uses black strap molasses, a slow fermentation process, five times distillation and white oak mellowing to create a velvet smoothness that is clean and round to the palate. The words HAVANA CLUB RUM and the web address www.havanaclubus.com also appear on the back of the bottle above a government-mandated health warning, which is followed by a toll-free number containing the letters HAVANA and, in small print, the phrases Produced by Havana Club, U.S.A., San Juan, P.R. and Havana Club is a trademark.