The name Pablo Escobar cannot be registered as a trademark of the European Union because the public associates it with drug trafficking and narcoterrorism, as ruled this Wednesday by the General Court of the EU.
The European justice thus confirms in the first instance the denial of registration of the Pablo Escobar trademark decided by the European Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), based in Alicante (Spain).
This EU body denied registration because it considered that the trademark was contrary to public order and good customs, and was based on the perception of the Spanish public, since it has a greater knowledge of Pablo Escobar due to the existing links between Spain and Colombia.
The Colombian Pablo Escobar, born on December 1, 1949 and died on December 2, 1993, was an alleged drug lord and narcoterrorist who supposedly founded the Medellín cartel (Colombia), of which he was the leader.
On September 30, 2021, the company Escobar Inc., with registered office in Puerto Rico (United States), requested the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to register the Pablo Escobar word sign as a Union trademark. for a wide range of products and services.
According to today’s opinion of the General Court, the EUIPO might base its assessment on the perception of reasonable Spaniards, with average thresholds of sensitivity and tolerance and who share the indivisible and universal values on which the Union is based, such as human dignity , freedom, equality, solidarity, the principles of democracy and the rule of law and the right to life and physical integrity.
The court, based in Luxembourg, ruled that the EUIPO correctly considered that these people associate the name of Pablo Escobar with drug trafficking and narcoterrorism, as well as with the crimes and suffering resulting from them, rather than with their possible good works in favor of the poor in Colombia.
Therefore, according to the General Court, the trademark will be perceived as contrary to the values and fundamental moral norms prevailing in Spanish society.
The General Court adds that Pablo Escobar’s fundamental right to the presumption of innocence has not been violated, since, although he was never criminally convicted, in Spain he is publicly perceived as a symbol of organized crime, responsible for numerous crimes.
Escobar Inc. is the official holding company of Pablo Escobar, founded in 1984 by his brother Roberto Escobar in Medellín, Colombia, which manages the family’s assets, including intellectual property rights and licenses thereof, as indicated on its website.
An appeal may be lodged once morest the decisions of the General Court before the Court of Justice, limited to questions of law, within a period of two months and ten days from notification of the decision.
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