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Re: Empresa Cubana del Tabaco, d/b/a/ Cubatabaco v. Culbro Corp., et al., No. 04-2527 (2d Cir.)
This amicus curiae letter brief on behalf of the United States is submitted as requested in the Court's letter dated August 27, 2004 to the Acting Solicitor General and the General Counsel of the Department of the Treasury.
QUESTION PRESENTED
This case involves a dispute between General Cigar Company (a United States corporation) and Cubatabaco (a Cuban state-owned entity), centering on the rights to the COHIBA trademark in the United States. The district court found that Cubatabaco had acquired the right to the COHIBA trademark in the United States through application of the "famous marks doctrine." Although the United States did not participate in this case in the district court, this Court invited the United States to submit an amicus curiae...
1) Refer to FAC Nos. C-152409, C-152468, dealing with the scope of the general licenses concerning a Cuban opposing a potentially infringing trademark as within the scope of the GL.
2) This amicus brief, which is signed by the General Counsel of the Treasury department along with the DOJ, lays out several general principles pertaining to what, according to the government, can and cannot happen in court with respect to a blocked party and its property without OFAC first issuing specific licenses. The current provisions of the CACR interpreted here are largely identical to the 2004 versions. The 2nd Circuit largely adopted the arguments laid out in this brief.
For detailed commentary on the importance of this brief, and...