New law spells trouble for Pernod's Wyborowa brand

Pernod Ricard, the owner of Wyborowa spirits producer Polmos Poznan claims that the bill on spirits amended by Parliament is against the law since it infringes ownership rights over two vodka brands, Wyborowa and Luksusowa. The French firm says that these regulations are likely to sour relations between Poland and the EU. Next week the Sejm is due to hold a final vote on the bill, which would change the brand name of Pernod's flagship brand Wyborowa into a generic term describing vodka of a certain quality. According to Yves Flaisier, president of the Pernod Ricard group in Poland, this would deprive the company of its exclusive ownership rights. "In this way other companies are given the possibility to use the Wyborowa brand. We paid euro 100 for Polmos Poznan [the second largest distillery in Poland]. When we signed the deal we were given exclusive rights to the brand, and we only signed the deal on the assumption that those rights were unquestionable," he said. "We intend to show that the bill is incongruous with the Constitution," Flaisier added. (Puls Biznesu, p. 8; Reuters) A.Z.