The Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejects in the most categorical terms the so-called “Act not to recognize stolen trademarks in the United States” recently signed by the President of the United States, promoted by the anti-Cuban sectors in the U.S. Congress and consisting of a new unilateral coercive measure, which reinforces the blockade against the Cuban economy. It broadens the scope of section 211 of the Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1999, which, according to the Dispute Settlement Body of the World Trade Organization, violates the international system for the protection of intellectual property.

This law deals a new blow to the international system of industrial property protection and confirms the contempt of the United States for the institutions of international law, in particular, the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property and the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property.

The “Law for not recognizing stolen trademarks in the United States” provides a patent of corse that widens the way to consolidate the theft of Cuban trademarks legitimately registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The attitude of the U.S. government contrasts with that of the Cuban authorities, which have always acted in strict compliance with the international conventions on intellectual property to which Cuba and the United States are parties. Currently, 6,448 U.S. trademarks are registered and protected in Cuba.

Once again, the U.S. Government is giving space to the dark interests of the most aggressive anti-Cuban sectors, whose manipulation of the U.S. political system has become a practice. The same happened in 1996, when the infamous colonial Helms-Burton Act was passed, which some also called the Bacardi Act. With great participation in the drafting of the Helms-Burton Act and the so-called Section 211, Bacardi shares the responsibility for the suffering imposed on Cuba by those who do not accept the course of independence and sovereignty chosen by the Cuban people.

Havana, December 10, 2024