LaMafia.pt
“La Mafia se sienta a la mesa” chain restaurant
After years of lawsuits and complaints, Italy won the dispute over the name of the Spanish restaurant chain “La Mafia se sienta a la mesa”. The Spanish body responsible for trademarks and patents concludes that the name is contrary to “public order and good customs”.
The Spanish restaurant chain called ““The Mafia sits at the table” will be soon forced to change nameafter the Spanish patent and trademark office accepted the objections of the Italian Government and decided that the designation of the brand “contradicts both the public order like the bons costumes”.
In almost a decade, Italy challenged the name of the restaurant chain in several courts and official entities, claiming that the name trivializes organized crime and the efforts made to combat it, says .
In 2018, the European Union Intellectual Property Office decided that the name was invalidfor conveying a “globally positive image” of the mafia.
He also added that the brand was, “therefore, likely to shock or offend not just the victims of this criminal organization and their families, but also anyone who, within the EU, comes across this sign and has a medium degree of sensitivity and tolerance”.
Eight years later, the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office also ruled in favor of Italy and declared the chain name invalid.
The company, which You can appeal the decisionargued that the name had been taken from a recipe book, and not from the criminal organization, and that the word “mafia” is no longer exclusively associated with illegal activity.
The company states that “the term mafia is effectively used in other sectors, like the audiovisual or literaryand the Spanish public identifies this term as an allusion to a cultural phenomenon, rather than a criminal organization.”
The court order highlights, however, that Italy explained that the word applies to a global criminal organization that also operates in Spain: “As Italy points out, the most common crimes of this organization include, among others, drug and weapons traffickingorganized crime, piracy, money laundering, corruption of public officials and homicides”.
When deciding in favor of the request presented by Italy, the organization stated that “the designation goes against both public order and good customs. The main name directly reproduces the name of a real criminal organization, whose activity is not a distant or merely literary phenomenonbut a persistent reality.”
The chain classified the decision as “unprecedented in Spain” and said he was considering appealing. He also added that he had successfully renewed his trademark with the body several times over the past two decades, and that he sought to discuss the case directly with the Italian ambassador to Spain.
“Over the years, We have tried on numerous occasions to explain the origin and the meaning of our name, but we didn’t have a real opportunity to do so”, said company sources cited by The Guardian.
“As has always been the case, we are oblivious to any negative connotations attributed to us by the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office and the Italian embassy. Our focus is to continue building the company’s future, faithful to essence of the project: a high-quality Italian-Mediterranean gastronomic offer and a distinctive gastronomic experience,” says the company.
