Pedro Pascal’s Lawyers Just Lost a Three Year Trademark Battle Over a Chilean Pisco Brand Called ‘Pedro Piscal’

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A joke shared over drinks at a year-end gathering in Chile has survived nearly three years of legal challenges and emerged with its trademark intact. David Herrera, a Chilean entrepreneur, created the brand “Pedro Piscal” in late 2022 when he and a group of family and friends landed on the wordplay combining Pedro Pascal’s name with pisco, the popular South American distilled spirit. The name stuck, the idea grew and Herrera decided to turn it into a real commercial venture. He registered the brand with Chile’s National Institute of Industrial Property, known as Inapi, in June 2023, and after the legal window for oppositions closed without any objections, he was officially declared the owner of the “Pedro Piscal” trademark for a period of ten years.

He then secured a partnership with a spirits producer in the Valle del Elqui to develop the product and bring it to market. What followed was a legal battle that he ultimately won, after Pedro Pascal’s lawyers withdrew their lawsuit against him, leaving the brand registered in his name through 2033.

A Three-Year Legal Fight for Pedro Pascal

The dispute began when Pascal’s legal representatives reached out to Herrera shortly after the brand gained traction, requesting that he hand over the digital domains associated with the trademark. Herrera declined. When the actor’s team followed that request with a financial offer of 2,000 dollars in exchange for both the brand and the internet domain, Herrera declined that too.

In March 2024, Pascal’s lawyers filed a nullity claim before Inapi, arguing that the “Pedro Piscal” brand could exploit the actor’s fame and create confusion among consumers. Herrera’s legal team pushed back by arguing that the name was a straightforward wordplay with no commercial intent to associate the product with Pascal’s public image, and that clear differences existed between a Hollywood actor and a Chilean pisco brand. The defense also requested that Pascal himself be summoned to testify. According to Herrera’s legal team, the actor was called to appear on two separate occasions and did not show up either time.

After nearly three years of proceedings, Pascal’s lawyers withdrew the lawsuit entirely. The trademark remains valid and the brand moves forward.

A Pattern That Chile Has Seen Before

The “Pedro Piscal” case has drawn comparisons to another Chilean trademark dispute that gained national attention during the pandemic, when entrepreneur Yohana Agurto launched a line of honey products under the name “Miel Gibson,” accompanied by the slogan “Only for brave hearts,” a reference to the film Braveheart starring Mel Gibson. The brand spread quickly on social media and prompted a legal challenge over its commercial registration. After years of administrative and judicial proceedings, Agurto managed to retain the rights to the brand across certain commercial categories.

Both cases reflect a recurring tension between the intellectual property rights of public figures and the creative latitude that small entrepreneurs claim when they build businesses around wordplay rather than direct commercial association. In both instances, the entrepreneur held on and the celebrity’s legal team ultimately failed to dismantle what had been built.

For Herrera, the outcome means that “Pedro Piscal” will continue operating as a registered Chilean pisco brand, a product born from a joke that turned out to be considerably more durable than the legal challenge brought against it.

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