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LUXENBOURG - A European court rejected Wednesday a company's bid to use the name of Colombian drug trafficker Pablo Escobar to sell a range of products and services.

The European Court of Justice ruled in favour of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) which refused a 2021 application to register "Pablo Escobar" as a trademark for a company called Escobar Inc.

The public would associate the name with "drug trafficking and narco-terrorism and with the crimes and suffering resulting therefrom", a statement from the Luxembourg-based court said.

The European agency rejected the application on the grounds that it was "contrary to public policy and to accepted principles of morality" which led Escobar Inc., to challenge the decision.

The court ruled that the EUIPO had correctly justified its refusal due to the negative perception of Escobar's name to the Spanish public -- as it would be the most familiar with Escobar due to the links between Spain and Colombia.

Escobar, founder, and boss of the Medellin cartel who was killed by police in 1993, "is publicly perceived in Spain as a symbol of organised crime responsible for numerous crimes," the statement said.