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Poincare' invariance and the heavy-quark potential

We derive and discuss the constraints induced by Poincare' invariance on the form of the heavy-quark potential up to order 1/m^2. We present two derivations: one uses general arguments directly based on the Poincare' algebra and the other follows from an explicit calculation on the expression of the potential in terms of Wilson loops. We confirm relations from the literature, but also clarify the origin of a long-standing false statement pointed out recently.