The General Court of the European Union has decided that the name Pablo Escobar cannot be used as a trademark. This decision supports an earlier ruling by the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) and rejects an application submitted by a Puerto Rican company linked to the family of the infamous drug baron in September 2021.

The company's application argued that names like "Bonnie and Clyde," "Al Capone," and "Che Guevara" are registered as trademarks in the EU and are protected under intellectual property law. Consequently, it claimed that "Pablo Escobar" could attain a similar commercial status due to his "numerous good deeds for Colombia’s poor," which have transformed him into a mythical figure in the country’s popular culture.

Escobar Inc, the company involved, is described on its website as a holdings entity that, among other activities, sells cryptocurrency bearing Pablo Escobar's image. Escobar, who died in 1993 during a police operation in Colombia, was a leading figure in the Medellín Cartel and was known as the "King of Cocaine." He established the first major network for cocaine trafficking from Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador to the United States.

The EU General Court's decision stated that "the EUIPO rejected the application because the trademark contravened public policy and commonly accepted principles of morality." It also noted that "prudent Spaniards, with common sensibility and tolerance limits" who share European values "would associate Pablo Escobar’s name with drug trafficking, the terrorism associated with it, crimes, and the misery that follows."