The delightful IPKat intellectual property blog notes a dispute over a Ceaucescu trade mark in Romania.
Valentin Ceausescu, son of former president-for-life Nicolae Ceausescu (the sociopath whose tenure was terminated by lead poisoning), is reportedly suing Bucharest's Odeon theatre for a production of
The Last Hours of Ceausescu.
Interestingly, Mr Valentin Ceausescu appears to be basing his claim on an infringement of the trade mark "Ceausescu" rather than an infringement of privacy or post-mortal personality rights.
The play in question The Last Hours of Ceausescu was created by the International Institute of Political Murder [sounds very Dada] which is based in Berlin and Zurich and describes the last hours in the life of Mr Ceausescu's parents. It is reported that Mr Ceausescu is suing for nominal damages of 0.25 Euro only as this was a matter of "principle" for him - no one should be allowed to use the name Ceausescu without consent. Foreign theatres, outside of Romania, are not reportedly affected.
It is difficult to see the son of the mass murderer having exhaustive rights over any use of the family moniker but Romania is a strange place.
IPKat comments that -
It is not quite clear from the report whether a trade mark registration for "Ceausescu" exists but this Kat, while not having found any Ceausescu marks, assumes that there might be a Romanian trade mark registration in place. The reports further quotes Alexandru Ulmeanu, the lawyer acting for the Odeon theatre Bucharest, as saying that he was planning to challenge the "Ceausescu" trade mark. In his view it was an abusive registration which could set an unwanted precedent.
