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16 September 2013Trademarks

Colombia rejects Escobar trademark

The government of Colombia has refused to register the name of notorious criminal Pablo Escobar as a trademark.

The family of the infamous drug lord had appealed against an earlier rejection from last year to register his full name, Pablo Emilio Escobar Gaviria as a trademark.

However, rejecting the appeal on Thursday, September 12, Colombia’s Commission of Industry and Commerce (CCIC) claimed the name would offend members of the general public.

Escobar, one of the country’s most notorious criminals, was a famed drug baron for much of his life.

He had a short spell in politics before being killed in 1993.

According to a statement from the CICC, it was considered that the trademark, which would have been used alongside Escobar’s signature and fingerprint, “offends morality of Colombian society and public order.”

It adds that the name “is associated with a cycle of violence which crossed the nation in the early 1980's and some of the 1990's, which left thousands of victims."

The mark, sought by Escobar’s widow, Maria Isabel Santos Caballero and children, Juana Manuela Santos and Juan Sebastian Marroquín was applied for under Class 41 of the Nice Classification for Goods and Services.

According to the World Intellectual Property Organization, class 41 relates to education, training and recreation but it is not clear how Escobar’s family intended to use the mark.

The CICC adds that the proposed brand “makes apology for violence and undermines public order, especially when taking into account the purpose of the services intended to protect, such as education, training and entertainment.”

Escobar’s family argued that the trademark would “convey messages that invite reflection of humanity to gestate and a society to recover and respect for human values.”

According to Margarita Castellanos, partner at partner at Castellanos & Co, an IP law firm in Bogota, Colombia, the government’s decision did not come as a surprise.

Making reference to Colombia’s membership of the Andean Community (CAN) Castellanos said, “Its [CAN’s] main purpose is to work in pursuing development, integration and the harmonisation of trade policies.

“Colombia, as well as Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru are governed regarding IP matters by Decision 486 ‘Common Regime on Industrial Property’, which was enacted in December 2000.

“In article 135 it expressly establishes that a sign would not be registered as trademark if it is against moral, public order or good manner.

“If the Trademark Office grants these kinds of trademarks, it will facilitate that the leaders of criminal organisations and drug lords remain immortal in the consumer´s minds, which is definitely not healthy for the society, which is recovering from that dark age.”

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