Messages sent by news aktuell GmbH, Hamburg Arechabala Family and Bacardi Call Submission Of TrademarkDispute to WTO Misguided / WTO is for International TradeDisputes, Not Civil Cases BRUSSELS, Belgium (ots-PRNewswire) - Members of the Arechabalafamily and Bacardi officials today criticized Pernod Ricard forpressuring the European Union to file a claim with the WorldTrade Organization (WTO) that is an unwarranted and recklessintrusion into a civil dispute between two business competitors. Last April, a United States District Court in New Yorkdismissed a suit brought by Havana Club Holdings S.A., a jointventure between Pernod Ricard and the Castro government, againstBacardi. The Court determined that the joint venture has norights to the Havana Club rum trademark in the United States,thus clearing the way for the Arechabala family and Bacardi tocommence U.S. sales of this rum. Now Pernod Ricard has pressuredthe EU into filing a claim with the WTO in an attempt topoliticize a purely civil dispute. "This is a private civil matter and not in anyway connected tothe world trade laws or the WTO," said Jose Manuel Arechabala."Pernod Ricard knowingly purchased an interest in property thatthe Castro government illegally confiscated from my family andtherefore has no legitimate claim to this trademark. The courtshave spoken and reached a fair and just result," he concluded. Havana Club rum was originally produced and marketed by theArechabala family. In 1960, Castro confiscated the family'sholdings, including the rights to the rum, without compensation.Castro's government then began selling the rum in Cuba under thestolen Havana Club trademark. Since 1993, the Cuban governmenthas been allied with Pernod Ricard to sell Havana Club. In 1994, Bacardi filed for a trademark for Havana Club rum inthe U.S. and began distributing it in New York in 1995, afterreaching an agreement in principle with the Arechabalas. Theagreement was formalized in 1997. Most recently, members of the Arechabala family and Bacardifiled a lawsuit against Pernod Ricard and the Cuban government inthe Spanish courts to recover the "Havana Club" trademark inSpain. "Piracy still flourishes in Castro's Cuba. Pernod is in clearviolation of standard principles of international law and itsbackdoor attempt to use the WTO is very transparent," said JorgeRodriguez-Marquez, Bacardi Vice President of CorporateCommunications. Lawyers on behalf of Bacardi rejected the WTO move as adesperate attempt to keep the issue alive and out of the U.S.court system, where it would continue to be rejected. During the litigation in New York, the judge ruled in favor ofBacardi citing Section 211 of the U.S. 1998 OmnibusAppropriations Act. "Section 211 is entirely consistent with allinternational treaties and embodies the principles ofinternational law recognized by the U.S. and Europe," said DougGibson, Vice President and General Counsel for Bacardi. "Theseprinciples provide that an entity should not be recognized as theowner of a trademark if it was stolen from its rightful ownerwithout payment." Gibson also noted that the principles have been recognizedrepeatedly throughout the Western world -- including WesternEurope -- following Russian, German and Cuban expropriations. "However," Gibson emphasized, "the original ruling of theUnited States District Court that struck down Pernod Ricard'sclaim to ownership of the Havana Club trademark in the UnitedStates occurred in August 1997, well before the October 1998passage of Section 211." "Section 211 had nothing to do with that decision," Gibsonsaid. "It resulted from the filing of admittedly false statementswith the U.S. Government. Fraud, not Section 211, led to thecollapse of the Pernod Ricard/Havana Club Holdings' case. TheU.S. District Court in New York looked to Section 211 only in itsApril 1999 decision, where it dismissed the remaining claims byPernod. As stated, this is a private civil matter, not connectedin any way with the WTO." Mr. Gibson said that neither Cuba nor Pernod Ricard ever ownedany rights to the trademark; Cuba stole the brand withoutcompensation and had nothing to sell to Pernod. Indeed, Pernodtried to buy the trademark from the rightful owner, theArechabala family, but was unsuccessful. The Bacardi family founded its rum business in Cuba in 1862and, similar to the Arechabala family, all of its Cuban assetswere expropriated by the Cuban government in 1960. Following 12years of litigation with the Cuban government, Bacardi was ableto regain ownership of all of its international trademarks thatCuba had attempted to expropriate. Bacardi is partnered with theArechabala family to regain ownership of the Havana Club brand.ots Original Text Service: Bacardi-Arechabala Internet:http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Europe: Rory Macrae, 00-32-2-227-6182 or 00-32-477-439-279 (GSM), or North America: ChrisHayes, 202 333-8542 or Cell: 202-487-8542, both of Edelman PublicRelations

Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug"PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to bepublished under the "CTK" slug. Protext is a commercial serviceproviding distribution of press releases from clients, who areidentified in the text of Protext reports and who bear fullresponsibility for their contents.

PROTEXT