Press Release: Geneva confirms US Law violates WTO Intellectual Property rules in ‘Havana Club’ dispute

A WTO Panel report circulated on 6 August 2001 confirmed that Section 211 of the US Omnibus Appropriations Act violates WTO rules. The report backs the EU's claim that Section 211 is in violation of the WTO's Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), because it effectively denies trademark owners access to the courts to enforce their intellectual property rights. This should open the way for EU company Pernod-Ricard to take up its case in the US courts over the registering in the US of the rum trademark “Havana Club”. The report also raises some important systemic issues, which have led the EU to decide to appeal against certain aspects of the panel decision.

• Primary Source

http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/distab_e.htm http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/dispu_e/distab_e.htm

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