Escobar, Inc., the company that owns trademarks of the image and likeness of the late Pablo Escobar, is suing the owners of Atlanta restaurant Escobar Lounge and Tapas for damages of $10 million. The AJC obtained court documents confirming the civil suit, which was first reported by TMZ. The suit names Mychel "Snoop" Dillard and Tauheed Epps, better known as the rapper 2 Chainz, as defendants.
According to its website, Escobar, Inc. is a privately-owned investment company owned by Roberto Escobar, the brother of deceased Colombian drug lord and cartel leader Pablo Escobar. The company claims to have been granted 30 trademarks and more than 100 copyrights in the U.S. in 2015. The complaint for trademark infringement was filed on June 17. Dillard and 2 Chainz have not yet filed a response to the claim.
Representatives for Dillard and 2 Chainz offered no comment when contacted by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The trademark infringement suit is the latest in a series of recent unanticipated events for Escobar Lounge. The restaurant, which had been closed for weeks due to statewide stay-at-home orders in response to COVID-19, was among the first to announce it would reopen April 27, the first day that Georgia restaurants were permitted to reopen for on-premise dining with restrictions. Escobar Lounge quickly reversed its decision, delaying the opening and donating food to the homeless. Once the restaurant resumed in-person dining in May, it was shut down twice by Georgia state police for violating Gov. Brian Kemp's COVID-19 guidelines to limit occupancy and require social distancing.
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