Pernod to launch international legal battle for vodka rights

French beverage group Pernod Ricard has announced it is to take legal action against the bill on industrial-property rights, which strips Pernod Ricard's subsidiary Agros of the right to export numerous well-known Polish-vodka brands. Pernod says it will continue selling the brands abroad, even if the bill becomes law. "Under a deal we signed with Agros, we have exclusive rights to distribute Polish-vodka brands outside Poland for 25 years and we will continue doing so," said Pernod's vice-chairman Thierry Jacquillat. Until now, the export rights for Poland's twenty most profitable vodkas were held by Agros, the successor to the communist-era foreign-trade monopoly bought by Pernod in 1994. Pernod says the Treasury wants to illegally give the rights for these brands to the state-owned distillery Polmoses to boost its value prior to its privatization scheduled for later this year. In 1999, Agros had revenue of more than $36 million, of which $11 million came from foreign vodka-sales. The Treasury says the dispute over trademarks was not over when Agros was sold and Pernod knew it would lose them eventually. It is estimated the value of Polmoses would increase by between $400 million and $500 million if were given back the rights to the brands. Jacquillat said if this bill is passed, it could threaten bilateral relations between Poland and France, which currently holds the European-Union (EU) presidency. (Reuters) M.M.