Bacardi Appeal Fails to Ax Cuba ‘Havana Club’ Mark Over Fee (1)

Bacardi & Co. failed to convince the Fourth Circuit Tuesday to nix a Cuba-owned company’s “Havana Club” trademark because of its late renewal payment.

Cubaexport’s payment wasn’t untimely despite taking a decade for the 2016 resolution of an appeal to the Patent and Trademark Office director, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit said.

The PTO had refused to accept Cubaexport’s timely 2005 payment based on the Cuban embargo, and Bacardi’s lawsuit against the agency said failure to pay within the period set by law nullifies the 1976 registration.

Writing for the court, Judge Julius N. Richardson echoed ...