IN CUBA 1,500 American Companies Have Registered 6,000 of their Brands. + EN CUBA 1,500 Empresas Americanas han Registrado 6,000 de sus Marcas.IN CUBA 1,500 AMERICAN COMPANIES HAVE REGISTERED 6,000 OF THEIR BRANDS.
When Julio Manzini decided two years ago to name his small restaurant McDonald’s after the famous fast-food chain, he had no idea it could cause any trouble. He has since been frightened into removing the name.
“I don’t even know what McDonald’s tastes like, I just thought the name was striking, like Shakira or something,” he said at the lunch counter of what used to be “Cafeteria La McDonald’s Camagueyana” in the Cuban city of Camaguey, about 300 miles (500 km) east of Havana.
This month, Manzini stripped “McDonald’s” and the famous golden arches from his handcrafted sign as a precaution after he claimed his establishment was visited by a lawyer sent by the company.
The place is now simply called “Cafeteria La Camagueyana.”
His counterfeit McDonald’s illustrates a potential battlefront between Cuba and the United States over trademark and intellectual property rights as Cuba’s economy opens up to more private enterprise and closer ties with the United States.
The two countries restored diplomatic relations this year after half a century of Cold War hostility and are now working to improve ties. Trademark and intellectual property issues will be on the negotiating table, both sides have said.
Both have grievances. The United States has denied Cuban companies the same trademark protection enjoyed by brands from everywhere else, forcing marquee names such as Havana Club rum and Cohiba cigars into long, expensive court battles.
And while Cuba protects trademarks registered with the government, it also tolerates or officially sanctions the resale of unlicensed music, software and entertainment. State television routinely pirates American movies and shows for broadcast.
In a socialist economy that only in recent years has allowed small-scale private businesses, knowledge of trademark law is poor. Manzini said he never thought to check with the Cuban Office of Industrial Property (OCPI) to see if the McDonald’s name was available. It is not: McDonald’s has registered trademarks in Cuba since at least 1985.
Despite the United States’ 53-year-old trade embargo against Cuba, companies from both countries have continued registering trademarks and patents in the other.
Since 1966 about 1,500 U.S. businesses have filed nearly 6,000 trademarks in Cuba, including renewals, according to data from Saegis, the online trademark database from Thomson Reuters.
Among them are Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Levi’s , Nike, Starbucks Coffee, Pfizer , Intel, Burger King, KFC and Goodyear.
Another 1,355 trademarks of U.S. origin, including Walmart and Google, are protected under an international treaty known as the Madrid Protocol, according to World Intellectual Property Organization data.
Aside from the “special hamburgers” and “American coffee” on offer, there is little that separates Manzini’s hole-in-the-wall operation from hundreds of other snack bars tucked in doorways across the island.
But he was likely violating trademark protections by using the McDonald’s name and the golden arches on his sign. He said he only fully understood he could be in trouble after the lawyer visited the restaurant recently while he was away.
“I’m really afraid. I don’t even pull in 1,000 pesos ($40) a day,” Manzini said.
McDonald’s would have to complain to the OCPI to legally stop Manzini and others, such as the “McDunald” cafe in the city of Santa Clara, which also uses the golden arches on its sign.
A spokeswoman for McDonald’s declined to comment except to say that “we are committed to vigorously protecting our intellectual property.”
EXPLOSION OF INTEREST.
More companies have registered their brands in Cuba since U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced detente last December, among them Twitter, Uber and Segway.
“There has been an explosion of interest from U.S. companies,” said Jaime Angeles, an intellectual property lawyer and partner at Dominican law firm Angeles & Lugo Lovaton who represents firms fighting for their trademark rights in Cuba.
Some 192 U.S. trademarks were filed in Cuba in the first four months of 2015, compared to 78 in all of 2014, according to Saegis data.
A few U.S. companies have seen their brand names pursued by others in Cuba.
Gustavo Fuentes, a Cuban lawyer residing in the United States, has applied for 65 trademarks, including famous brands such as John Deere, Chase, the NFL and Pixar.
Some companies are contesting those rights, including JetBlue Airways Corp, which announced plans for a New York-to-Havana charter five months after Fuentes asked for the name JetBlue.
“We will vigorously protect our brand in Cuba,” spokesman Doug McGraw said.
Fuentes declined to comment. The OCPI has yet to grant him any trademarks, according to its public records.
Angeles, who represents eight of the U.S. companies, including restaurant chain IHOP and pharmaceutical company Hospira, said he was confident they would win the rights to their brands in Cuba.
“The Cuban system has all the legal tools to protect trademarks of any country,” he said, adding that companies should claim their trademarks before someone else does. “Filing first is the cheapest protection you can get.”
Cuba has long struggled to protect its marquee brands under U.S. law, including one statute that aims to protect owners of Cuban companies nationalized after the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power.
Bacardi, the former Cuban distiller that now makes rum in Puerto Rico, controls Havana Club in the United States after acquiring the name from its original pre-revolutionary owner. Everywhere else, Cuba and its French joint venture partner, Pernod Ricard, control the rights to Havana Club.
“That is a restriction we put on trademarks only with respect to Cuba,” said Jeremy Sheff, a law professor at St. John’s University in New York. “The U.S. treatment of Cuba is unique in all of international property law.”
Cuba’s famed Cohiba cigar brand has been fighting for its trademark for 19 years against a rival that won a major U.S. court case by citing the embargo.
Reuters /Jaime Hamre/Trotta/Murray/Internet Photos / www.thecubanhistory.com
The Cuban History, Hollywood.
Arnoldo Varona, Editor.
El Yunque de Baracoa, al fondo. Monumento nacional natural de Guantánamo (764 votos, 539 en la web, 200 por email y 25 por correo postal). Foto: Patrick Tesseron
EN CUBA 1,500 EMPRESAS AMERICANAS HAN REGISTRADO 6,000 DE SUS MARCAS.
Cuando hace dos años Julio Manzini bautizó como McDonald’s a su cafetería, por la cadena estadounidense, nunca imaginó que le podría traer problemas. Pero hace poco decidió cambiar el nombre.
“Ni sé la calidad de la McDonald’s. El nombre es como Shakira, impactante”, dijo en su cafetería “La McDonald’s Camagüeyana”, en la ciudad de Camagüey, a 500 kilómetros al este de La Habana.
Este mes sacó el nombre de “McDonald’s” y los famosos arcos dorados de su cartel hecho a mano como precaución, luego que la empresa estadounidense envió un abogado al restaurante.
El local se llama ahora “Cafetería La Camagüeyana”.
La McDonald’s falsificada ilustra una posible batalla entre Estados Unidos y Cuba por las marcas y los derechos de propiedad intelectual, en la medida en que la economía de Cuba se abre al sector privado y a nuevos vínculos con Washington. Las marcas comerciales y la propiedad intelectual se incluyen en los temas que discutirán en una mesa de diálogo, según los gobiernos.
Los dos países tienen quejas. Estados Unidos ha negado a empresas cubanas la misma protección que disfrutan las compañías de cualquier otro país, forzando a empresas de la isla a acudir a batallas judiciales para proteger marcas destacadas como el ron Havana Club y los puros Cohíba.
Cuba protege las marcas que están registradas ante las autoridades del país, pero tolera la venta de música, software y películas sin licencia. La televisión estatal transmite rutinariamente películas y series estadounidenses pirateadas.
Manzini dijo que nunca se le ocurrió ver con la Oficina Cubana de Propiedad Industrial (OCPI) si estaba disponible el nombre McDonald’s. La empresa estadounidense ha registrado marcas en Cuba desde al menos 1985.
Desde 1966, alrededor de 1.500 empresas estadounidenses han registrado casi 6.000 marcas en Cuba, incluyendo renovaciones, según Saegis, la base de datos de marcas de Thomson Reuters.
Entre ellas Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Levi’s , Nike, Starbucks Coffee, Pfizer , Intel, Burger King, KFC y Goodyear.
En la ciudad central de Santa Clara, por ejemplo, hay una cafetería llamada “McDunald” que usa también los famosos arcos dorados.
Explosión de interés.
Más compañías han registrado sus marcas en Cuba desde que Estados Unidos y Cuba anunciaron un deshielo en sus relaciones en diciembre del año pasado. Entre ellas, Twitter, Uber y Segway.
“Ha habido una explosión de intereses por parte las compañías estadounidenses,” dijo Jaime Ángeles, un abogado especializado en la propiedad intelectual del bufete dominicano Ángeles & Lugo Lovatón.
Se solicitó el registro de 192 marcas estadounidenses en Cuba en los primeros cuatro meses del 2015, comparado con las 78 solicitadas en todo 2014, según datos de Saegis.
Gustavo Fuentes Ledo, un abogado cubano que reside en Estados Unidos, ha solicitado los derechos de 65 marcas en Cuba, entre ellas John Deere, Chase, NFL y Pixar. Ángeles, que representa a ocho empresas, cuyas marcas estadounidenses fueron solicitadas por Fuentes, no duda que obtendrán los derechos al final. “El sistema cubano tiene todas las herramientas para proteger a las marcas de cualquier país,” destacó Ángeles.
Cuba lleva años batallando por sus marcas bajo la legislación estadounidense que cuenta con una medida para proteger a dueños de empresas que fueron nacionalizadas después de la revolución cubana en 1959 que llevó al poder a Fidel Castro.
Por ejemplo, Bacardi, una destilería que era cubana y que fabrica ahora su ron en Puerto Rico, controla Havana Club dentro de Estados Unidos tras adquirir los derechos de la familia Arechabala, una marca que fue nacionalizada en 1960. La etiqueta pertenece fuera de Estados Unidos a Cuba y a su socio francés Pernod Ricard.
Reuters /Jaime Hamre/Trotta/Murray/Excerpts/Internet Photos/thecubanhistory.com
The Cuban History, Hollywood.
Arnoldo Varona, Editor.