The Court of First Instance of the European Union (CJEU) ruled today that the name “Pablo Escobar” cannot be registered as a trademark in the EU due to its association with the Colombian narco-terrorist.
In a statement, the first instance of the CJEU, the General Court of the EU, on September 30, 2021, Escobar Inc., based in Puerto Rico, “requested broad registration” of the name “Pablo Escobar.” A range of products and services.”
The EU Intellectual Property Office rejected the request, saying the mark was “against public order and good manners” and based on the sentiment of the Spanish public, who “know Pablo Escobar well because of the relations between Spain and Colombia.”.
“Pablo Escobar, a Colombian national considered to be a drug lord and a drug terrorist, founded the Medellin (Colombia) cartel of which he was the sole leader,” the court continued in the report.
Escobar Inc. The company challenged the refusal at the General Court of the European Union, which ruled in favor of the European Union Intellectual Property Office.
The institution is based on “the spirit of reasonable Spaniards, who have average limits of sensitivity and tolerance and share indivisible and universal values” through which the social group is governed.
The company rightly considers that Pablo Escobar's name is associated with drug trafficking and narco-terrorist activities, as well as “with the resulting crimes and suffering, more than his good deeds in favor of the poor. In Colombia”, the court ruled.
Therefore, the brand is understood to be “contrary to the values and basic moral norms prevailing in Spanish society”.
The General Court warned that Pablo Escobar's fundamental right to be presumed innocent had not been violated.
Although he was never convicted in a criminal court, his name is widely viewed, at least in Spain, as a “symbol of organized crime”.
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