By JUAN O. TAMAYO
Herald Staff Writer

The real estate giant RE/MAX says it is shocked to discover that a British Realtor has been using its logo to sell properties in Cuba. RE/MAX is disavowing any connection with an enterprise that might be in violation of the U.S. embargo.

But RE/MAX Havana President Stephen Marshall said he paid $75,000 to RE/MAX's Caribbean subfranchiser, with the knowledge of the firm's world headquarters in Colorado, for the right to open five offices in Cuba and has the documents to prove it.

``They thought their attorneys had found the magic agreement to get around U.S. laws, Marshall told The Herald in a telephone interview from Havana. ``They knew full well I was here. Now they've had some sort of memory loss.

The dispute casts a spotlight on efforts by foreign businessmen to quietly establish footholds for profitable U.S. goods and services in Cuba in hopes the U.S. embargo will be lifted sooner rather than later.

Although Marshall has maintained an Internet page offering apartments in Cuba for 18 months, RE/MAX officials in Colorado said they became aware of it only earlier this year.

``The purchase of real estate in Cuba is now a reality!'' the page trumpets. ``Condos, homes, office space and more. Probably the most anxiously awaited real estate opportunity in the Americas.

The page makes no mention of the U.S. embargo, but notes that all the apartments for sale are in new buildings, not properties seized by the government from Cuban or U.S. citizens.

``RE/MAX International has emphatically not authorized anyone to operate in Cuba, Daryl Jesperson, president of the Denver-based firm, told The Herald.

RE/MAX lawyers are investigating the ``illegal use of the firm's name in Cuba and informing U.S. authorities, added Jesperson, whose firm has 3,200 independently owned and operated franchises in 30 countries.

Marshall has certainly not tried to hide his work in Cuba. Spain's El Pais newspaper, Cuba's Foreign Trade magazine and The Financial Times in London reported on his real estate deals in 1997 and 1998.

The Financial Times quoted him as saying he had established a joint venture with a Cuban government agency to market a half-dozen apartment buildings being built in Havana by Spanish and Monacan investors.
But it wasn't until Marshall's Web page began getting notice early this year that the dispute erupted, largely because the page was perceived as evidence that the Colorado firm had found a way to work legally in Cuba.

U.S. advocates of increasing business with Cuba swiftly pointed to RE/MAX Havana to prove that U.S. firms could carry out legal deals in Cuba. The Herald recently ran a story listing RE/MAX among several American firms with foreign partners that were doing business in Cuba.

But the burgeoning publicity prompted Jesperson to issue an angry statement May 19 saying he was ``incensed that someone has had that audacity to blatantly and illegally utilize the RE/MAX name in Cuba.

Jesperson said he had begun hearing vague rumors last year that someone was using the RE/MAX name in Cuba, but managed to confirm RE/MAX Havana's existence only recently, after seeing Marshall's Web page (www.realestatecuba.com).

Jesperson said Marshall is the RE/MAX franchise holder only in the British-run Turks and Caicos Islands, not in Cuba. He also said his Caribbean subfranchiser, Patrick Murphy, who is based in Puerto Rico, could not have sold a Cuba franchise because that would violate the U.S. embargo.

Murphy declined to comment on whether he had sold the Cuba franchise to Marshall. ``I will gladly comment once I find out more about what's been written and what has happened, he told The Herald in a brief telephone interview.

But Marshall said he bought the Cuba franchise from Murphy with the full knowledge and approval of the Colorado office, based on opinions from RE/MAX lawyers that the deal would not violate U.S. laws.

Marshall said Murphy attended his office opening in Havana last October, and had earlier signed him up for a training course in Colorado during which he discussed Cuba business prospects with company officials.

His Web page features a photograph of him meeting with a senior RE/MAX official in Colorado last July.

Ironically, experts on the U.S. embargo say there may be nothing illegal in the deal.

Marshall is a British citizen not subject to U.S. laws such as the embargo, they said, and his alleged deal with Murphy, for a flat fee with no future royalties or profit sharing required, may allow Murphy to claim he has done no business in or with Cuba.

At worst, Marshall may be infringing on the RE/MAX trademark, the experts added. Jesperson said RE/MAX International never registered its trademark in Cuba, and Marshall said he registered it for local use only.

``If RE/MAX Havana registered the name there, you'd have to go into a very technical and tough legal battle to force it to stop using the name, said one U.S. lawyer experienced in Cuba trademark issues.

The battle would be all the tougher, the lawyer added, because Cuba's government is incensed over a U.S. federal court's recent refusal to protect the trademark of the Cuban-made Havana Club rum in a case against the Bacardi rum giant.

``Cuba has little incentive to protect the trademark rights of the RE/MAX in Colorado when a U.S. court has refused to protect the trademark of a Cuban firm, the lawyer said.
e-mail: jtamayo@herald.com