Family dispute reaches trademark office over registration of Miguel Uribe Turbay

By Castillo Grau Abogados

A dispute between the widow and father of late Colombian senator and presidential candidate Miguel Uribe Turbay has reached the country’s trademark authority, with both parties seeking rights over the use of his name as a trademark.

Miguel Uribe Londoño, Uribe Turbay’s father, filed an application with Colombia’s Superintendence of Industry and Commerce (SIC) on April 22, 2026, seeking registration of the name “Miguel Uribe Turbay” in Class 35 of the Nice Classification. The application covers services including advertising and promotion, political activities, business-related services and projects involving volunteers and charitable organizations. María Claudia Tarazona, Uribe Turbay’s widow, subsequently filed an opposition to the application.

Tarazona later filed her own trademark application for the same name on July 30. According to Colombian media reports, the specification of her application includes a range of charitable and volunteer services, promotion of donations, community projects, political administration planning and advertising and promotional services relating to political engagement and public policy. The two applications therefore concern the same name but were filed by different members of Uribe Turbay’s immediate family.

The dispute is being examined under the industrial property rules applicable in Colombia as a member of the Andean Community. Article 136(e) of Decision 486 provides that signs cannot be registered as trademarks when their use affects the identity or prestige of a natural person other than the applicant, particularly where the sign consists of that person’s name, surname, signature, pseudonym, image, portrait or caricature, unless the required consent has been obtained. In the case of a deceased person, the provision refers to the consent of those who have been declared the person’s heirs.

The provision is directly relevant to the case because the person whose name is the subject of the applications, Miguel Uribe Turbay, died in August 2025. The opposition filed by Tarazona reportedly argues that the rights associated with his name and image belong to his heirs and that their minor son, Alejandro, is represented by his mother. The arguments submitted to the SIC will therefore require the authority to examine the parties’ respective rights and the consent requirements under the applicable trademark rules.

The fact that an applicant is a relative of the deceased does not, by itself, resolve the trademark issue. The relevant provision of Decision 486 is framed around the consent of the heirs rather than simply the existence of a family relationship. The SIC must therefore assess the documentation and arguments submitted in the respective proceedings before determining whether the requirements for registration are met.

The case is not the first trademark proceeding involving Uribe Turbay’s name since his death. The SIC rejected an application filed by Fundación Solidaridad por Colombia for the trademark “Media Maratón Miguel Uribe Turbay.” A second application by the same organization, for “Carrera de la Solidaridad Miguel Uribe Turbay,” remains under examination, according to reports on the proceedings.

The applications filed by the family members have a broader scope than the sporting-event names. Uribe Londoño’s application includes services relating to charitable organizations, political elections, political information and promotion, public-policy awareness and advertising. Tarazona’s application covers similar political and advertising activities, as well as a broader range of volunteer, charitable, donation and community-service activities.

The proceedings also raise a distinction between the protection of a person's identity and the exclusive rights granted by trademark registration. Article 136(e) of Decision 486 operates as a restriction on registration where the use of a sign would affect the identity or prestige of another person, while a trademark registration itself provides exclusive rights in relation to the goods or services covered by the registration. The SIC must apply these rules to the specific applications and evidence submitted in the proceedings.

The dispute comes after Uribe Turbay was attacked in Bogotá on June 7, 2025, during a political event. He died on August 11, 2025, after being hospitalized following the attack. At the time of the attack, he was a senator and a candidate in the internal process to select the presidential candidate of the Centro Democrático party.