{"id":2493,"date":"2018-04-11T07:34:47","date_gmt":"2018-04-11T07:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/?p=2493"},"modified":"2018-04-11T07:35:34","modified_gmt":"2018-04-11T07:35:34","slug":"the-mafia-comes-to-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/la-mafia-se-met-a-table\/","title":{"rendered":"The Mafia is coming to the table: EU court sees red"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mafia is coming to the table: EU court sees red<\/strong><\/h1>\n

The mafia is a mark contrary to public policy according to the Court of First Instance of the European Union.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2006, The Mafia Franchises, a Spanish restaurant chain, registered the European Union brand The mafia is coming to the table<\/strong> (\"La Mafia se sienta a la mesa\" in Spanish). It also contains a black background, a red rose and the words \"Se si a la mesa\". It covers, inter alia, food and beverage services, in class 43.<\/p>\n

This chain, created in 2000, has Italian-Mediterranean restaurants in Spain. It is inspired by Francis Ford Coppola's \"The Godfather\" films in its brand.<\/p>\n

Italy do not look favourably on this mark. In 2015, it will file an application with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO). It seeks the invalidity of the semi-figurative sign<\/a> The mob's coming to the table.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

Mafia cooking is a mark against law and order.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In its application to EUIPO, Italy argues that The mafia is coming to the table<\/strong> constitutes a mark contrary to public policy and morality. Indeed, the term \"mafia\" evokes a criminal organization and its use engenders \"deeply negative\" emotions.<\/p>\n

EUIPO moves in the direction of Italy<\/strong><\/h3>\n

According to the Office, this brand promotes the criminal organization known as the \"Mafia. \"Moreover, it considers that all the elements of the brand make the Mafia user-friendly and trivialize it.<\/p>\n

The Mafia Franchises Challenge<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Mafia Franchises then challenged this decision before the EU Court of First Instance. The restaurant chain invokes its wish to refer to the films \"The Godfather\". The applicant also points out that its trademark has obtained a reputation through its concept of restaurants based on the theme of the said films. The company furthermore believes that the trade mark should be analysed as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The decision of the EU Court of First Instance<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Cancellation of the trademark<\/strong><\/h3>\n

By a decision of 15 March 2018<\/a>the Court of First Instance of the European Union annuls the trade mark The mafia is coming to the table<\/strong>because he considers it to be contrary to public policy.<\/p>\n

Indeed, according to the Court of First Instance \"The contested mark is liable to shock or offend not only the victims of that body and their families, but also any person who, within the territory of the EU, is brought into contact with the mark and has average thresholds of sensitivity and tolerance. \u00bb<\/p>\n

The EU Court also deplores the fact that \"the Mafia's association with the ideas of conviviality and relaxation conveyed by sharing a meal contributes to the trivialisation of the illicit activities of this criminal organisation. \u00bb.<\/p>\n

For those reasons, the action brought by The Mafia Franchises is dismissed, and the trade mark The mafia is coming to the table <\/strong>(\"La Mafia se sienta a la mesa\") is therefore cancelled.<\/p>\n

The Mafia Franchises keeps invoking the presence of its logo and its reference to the films \"The Godfather\". What can we take away from this?<\/p>\n

The logo recalling The Godfather does not change the decision. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

The sign The mafia is coming to the table <\/strong>includes a rose on a black background and white letters. The whole evokes the poster of the film \"The Godfather\". Don Vito Corleone, its main character often adorned with a red rose, is also a source of inspiration.<\/p>\n

The wish of The Mafia Franchises to refer to the Godfather does not weigh positively in the balance of the Tribunal.<\/p>\n

The notion of public order is delicate in the light of current events. It is therefore necessary to be vigilant when choosing a trademark.<\/p>\n

Note that other trademarks including the name MAFIA have been registered.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

<\/h2>\n

Other MAFIA brands<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This decision shows that the term MAFIA had been registered without any difficulty by The Mafia Franchises. It was only at the request of a third party that the mark was cancelled.<\/p>\n

A search of the INPI databases revealed 64 trademarks (most of them registered) valid in France (this includes French, European and international trademarks targeting France or the EU) and including the term MAFIA. Among them, several other restoration trademarks :<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So it seems that the term MAFIA has not caused much excitement so far. However, the decision of the EU Court of First Instance may jeopardize the validity of the above marks. Applicants have something to worry about!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

La Mafia se met \u00e0 table\u00a0: le Tribunal de l\u2019UE voit rouge La mafia se met \u00e0 table est une marque contraire \u00e0 l\u2019ordre public selon le Tribunal de l\u2019Union Europ\u00e9enne. C\u2019est en 2006 que The Mafia Franchises, cha\u00eene espagnole de restaurants, d\u00e9pose la marque de l\u2019Union Europ\u00e9enne La mafia se met \u00e0 table (\u00ab\u00a0La […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2494,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fun-facts","post-wrapper","thrv_wrapper"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/depot-de-marque.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}