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CU-151435
DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20220
DEC 19 1996
Dear Mr. Sanchez:
This is in response to your letters of May 20, 1996 and August 12, 1996, concerning the assignment of the Havana club This matter was the subject of a meeting on May 23, 1996.
In your letters you raise two issues. First, you convey your view that certain assignments of the Havana Club trademark were made in violation of the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, 31 C.F.R. Part 515 (the "Regulations"), and should, therefore, be declared null and void.
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Section 515.527 of the Regulations authorizes all transactions related to the registration and renewal in the United States Patent and Trademark Office ("USPTO") of patents, trademarks, and copyrights in which the Government of Cuba...
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1) Refer to comments to Havana Club Holding S.A. v. Galleon S.A., 203 F.3d 116 (2d Cir. 2000). This is the original version of the guidance letter excerpted in that opinion (in which the 2nd Circuit declines to reject OFAC's reasoning).
2) Contrast Kalantari v. NITV, Inc., 352 F.3d 1202 (9th Cir. 2003), and comments thereto, where assignment of a copyright was considered a transaction authorized as "ordinarily incident to" the generally licensed registration of a copyright, within the meaning of the boilerplate interpretive provision authorizing transactions "ordinarily incident" to licensed transactions. The CACR now includes a boilerplate interpretive provision authorizing transactions "ordinarily incident" to licensed transactions (515.421), but it was only inserted in the CACR in 2015, prior to this litigation.