A Puerto Rican company associated with Pablo Escobar’s family attempted to trademark the name of the infamous Colombian drug lord in the EU in September 2021.
However, the European Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday that the name of the late drug lord cannot be registered as an EU trademark, following a claim made by his brother.
The company argued that names like Bonnie and Clyde, Al Capone, and Che Guevara have already been registered as EU trademarks, and that Pablo Escobar, due to his perceived charitable acts in Colombia, has attained a legendary status in mainstream culture.
However, Reuters reports that the court upheld the decision of the EU’s intellectual property office (EUIPO), which had rejected a trademark application by Escobar Inc. in 2022.
The court stated that the name of Pablo Escobar is primarily associated with drug trafficking, narco-terrorism, and the crimes and suffering stemming from them, rather than any potential benevolent actions he may have taken.
Escobar Inc., founded in Puerto Rico by Pablo Escobar’s brother Roberto de Jesús Escobar Gaviria, who served 12 years in prison for his involvement in his brother’s criminal activities, announced plans in 2020 to launch a foldable smartphone named the Escobar Fold 1. The company also offers a cryptocurrency called Escobar Cash.
Pablo Escobar, notorious for leading one of the world’s most powerful criminal organizations, the Medellin cartel, amassed a fortune estimated by Forbes in 1987 to exceed $3 billion, although some sources suggest it was much higher.
His death in 1993 at the hands of security forces marked the end of an era marred by cartel-related violence, which claimed thousands of lives.”