04/17/2024 – 14:28
The name of late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar cannot be registered as a trademark in the European Union, the EU Court of Justice ruled on Wednesday, after his brother tried to make a claim.
The court upheld the decision of the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) that refused a trademark registration application from Escobar Inc. in 2022.
“The EUIPO correctly found that these people would associate the name of Pablo Escobar with drug trafficking and narco-terrorism and the crimes and suffering resulting therefrom, and not with his possible good deeds in favor of the poor in Colombia,” the court said in a statement .
Escobar Inc. was founded in Puerto Rico by Pablo Escobar's brother, Roberto de Jesús Escobar Gaviria, who spent 12 years in prison for his role in his brother's criminal organization.
Gaviria said in 2020 that his company would launch a foldable smartphone called the Escobar Fold 1. The company currently sells a cryptocurrency called Escobar Cash, according to its website.
Pablo Escobar led one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the world, the Medellín Cartel. His fortune, obtained from cocaine trafficking, was estimated by Forbes in 1987 at more than 3 billion dollars, although some reports place it at a much higher value.
Thousands of people were killed in cartel-related violence during and after his death in 1993, when he was shot by security forces.
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