The European Court of Justice has upheld a decision to prevent the registration of a trade mark for the mark ‘PABLO ESCOBAR’.
The trade mark was applied for in 2021 by ‘Escobar Inc.’, a company founded by Roberto Escobar, the brother of infamous Pablo Escobar. Roberto has previously spent over a decade in prison for his involvement in his brother’s criminal organisation.
Roberto has argued that denying the registration violated his brother’s right to be presumed innocent, as he had never been convicted of any drug-related offences. However, the European Court of Justice stressed that the late Colombian drug lord’s name is a ‘symbol of organised crime’.
It has been ruled that a ‘PABLO ESCOBAR’ trade mark would likely be associated with ‘drug trafficking and narco-terrorism and with the crimes and suffering resulting therefrom’, and that the mark would therefore be against ‘fundamental values and moral standards’.
It is to be seen if Escobar Inc. will appeal this decision further.
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