Maybe some day soon:
Cuba is ready to ship 1 million cases of rum to America if Washington eases its 47-year-old embargo, but would hold off exporting its flagship Havana Club brand because of U.S. trademark battles, one of the island's top rum executives said Wednesday.
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Cuban rums can't be sold in the United States, but they are available in more than 120 countries, Gonzalez said, noting that the company sold 4 million cases in 2008. Of that, Havana Club counts for all but about half a million cases.
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He said that the first wave of Cuban rum to hit the U.S. likely wouldn't include Havana Club due to an fight in U.S. courts with Bermuda-based rum giant Bacardi Ltd., which produces its own Havana Club, made in Puerto Rico and sold in Florida since 2006.
If Cuba could sell its rum in the United States, would that create renewed interest in the U.S. - Section 211 WTO dispute, which has been lingering on, unimplemented, for years? The basic issue there was a U.S. trademark dispute over the name "Havana Club" -- between a Pernod/Cuban government joint venture, on the one hand, and Bacardi, on the other hand -- and related legislation. It may not have been worth pursuing the WTO case if there was no possibility of the Pernod/Cuban venture selling Havana Club rum in the U.S. (due to the embargo). But if there is now a chance the embargo will be lifted, maybe someone will be more active in pushing the case. (I should point out that my knowledge of the facts of the case is based on what was going in 2002 -- a lot may have happened in the meantime).
