07/08/2001 (Agence Europe) - "Trademark owners must be able to enforce their intellectual property rights in court. We are extremely pleased that the EU has prevailed on this key point. Section 211 is a black mark on America's record of leadership within the world trading community. The US Congress should act immediately to repeal this onerous provision". This is how Mark Orr, of the group Pernod Ricard, commented on the conclusions of the WTO panel on the affair of the "Havana Club" rum trademark, by which Section 211 of the American financial legislation does not comply with the TRIPS Agreement on intellectual property (see yesterday's EUROPE, p.2). Mr. Orr is, however, concerned at noting that, according to the panel, trade names do no benefit from the protection afforded by the TRIPS Agreement, and considers that, were these conclusions to be allowed to stand, they would "lower the standards of protection provided by the TRIPS Agreement, posing a threat to all countries that rely on strong international protection for their intellectual property". Mr. Orr thus is pleased that the EU has decided to appeal.