News

COHIBA Cigars – Federal Circuit Revives Cuban Company’s Trademark Claim

In an epic, 17-year litigation against a leading U.S. cigar company, we have succeeded in reviving the long-standing claim of Cubatabaco, the Cuban cigar company, to the U.S. trademark rights to COHIBA, the world’s most famous cigar brand. On June 4, 2014, the United State Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed the decision of the Trademark Trial and Appeals Board (“TTAB”) dismissing the Cuban company’s petition to cancel …
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50th Anniversary of Sabbatino Decision

On March 23, 1964, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Banco Nacional de Cuba v. Sabbatino, a seminal case in the fields of international law and foreign policy law. In Sabbatino, the Firm won the celebrated Supreme Court ruling that the courts of the United States will not, with limited exceptions, question the legality of the acts of a foreign sovereign done within its own territory, even if those …
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Sovereign Immunity and Anti-Terrorism Judgments

We have been successful in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in defeating efforts to execute upon the patents and trademark registrations of 20 Cuban enterprises and research institutes, as well as upon the Republic of Cuba’s certification mark for Cuban cigars, in satisfaction of a $200 million default judgment against the Republic of Cuba. In Jerez v. Republic of Cuba, No. 09-466, 2013 WL 4578999 …
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Another Trademark Victory – Cuban Cigars

Since 2008, we have succeeded, on behalf of Cuban cigar companies, in cancelling or preventing numerous registrations of marks on the basis of false and misleading associations with Cuba and Cuban cigars. Most recently, we prevailed in Corporacion Habanos, S.A. v. Guantanamera Cigar Company, Opp. No. 91152248 (T.T.A.B. Feb. 16, 2012), in our efforts, on behalf of our client Corporacion Habanos, S.A., to prevent the registration of the mark GUANTANAMERA for non-Cuban cigars …
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People-to-People Licenses for Travel to Cuba

In January 2011, the Obama Administration issued new regulations expanding the categories of travel to Cuba, particularly for “people-to-people” group travel.  Under the new regulations, we have succeeded in obtaining numerous licenses from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to run these “people-to-people” programs for both commercial companies and not-for-profit organizations. We have also obtained numerous OFAC licenses for commercial companies, cultural institutions, not-for-profits organizations …
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