The restaurant chain La Mafia Se Sienta a la Table is considering changing its name. The company assures that the idea is the result of a strategic reflection process that began more than a year ago and that it responds to the trademark invalidation request promoted by Italy and that the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office has approved.
“Since the company became aware of the procedure carried out before the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, following an initiative promoted by the Italian Embassy in Spain, the company began a process of strategic reflection together with specialized consultancies and law firms.“, they explain from Grupo LMssLM, in a statement. “As a result of this work, La Mafia sits at the table has been analyzing the situation for more than a year, including the possible definition of a new name that would allow it to reinforce its long-term positioning.”.
The OEPM considers the sign contrary to “both public order and good customs.”
This is how The Mafia Sits at the Table has spoken after learning of the resolution of the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office, which has agreed to the nullity of the trademark, pointing out, as indicated in the published documents, that it is contrary “both to public order and good customs“.”The main name directly reproduces the name of a real criminal organization, whose activity does not constitute a remote or merely literary phenomenon, but rather a persistent reality.”, points out the organization.
This resolution is a new chapter in a process that began on February 18, 2025, promoted from the Italian Embassy in Spain. Before that, ambassador Buccino Grimaldi had already expressed his disagreement with the company’s name. In September 2023, he criticized the sponsorship agreement established between La Mafia Se Sienta a la Mesa and the Casademont Zaragoza basketball team, stating that “The Mafia represents a criminal phenomenon”.
When submitting the application, from Italy they alleged that the trademark refers to a criminal organization, the Mafia, which operates not only locally in Italy but globally, including Spain. They also pointed out that the most common crimes of said organization are, among others, drug and weapons trafficking, organized crime, piracy, money laundering, corruption of officials or murders. According to the documents, they presented press articles about it, as well as the measures implemented by the Italian government to fight against the organization.
For its part, the company argued that the contested trademark comes from the recipe book “The Mafia sits at the table”, and also alleged the right to freedom of expression and how the term “Mafia” is used in other industries such as audiovisual or literary and how the Spanish public identifies said term as an allusion to a cultural phenomenon, rather than to a criminal organization.
The resolution of the OEPM agrees to the nullity of the brand based on its identification with the mafia, whose activities, the text indicates, are “contrary to the ethical and moral principles recognized not only in all Member States, but in all democratic societies“And he adds: “The fundamental moral values of the EU and the Member States also prevent the registration of these types of signs as trademarks and their commercial exploitation, since the registration of these marks would offend and
would deeply disturb not only the victims and their families, but also anyone who shares these universal values“.
The office’s resolution is aligned with that published in 2018 by the General Court of the European Union following the invalidity request presented by Italy before the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), which declared the invalidity of the European trademark.
In its statement, the LMssLM Group recalls that the brand has been registered and renewed on different occasions by the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office itself over more than two decades. The office documents indicate that the trademark application date was June 21, 2000, for class 42: “restoration (food); temporary lodging.”
The company also claims to have tried on several occasions to maintain a direct dialogue with the Italian ambassador to explain the origin and meaning of the name, “without these requests having been attended to.”. They remember that the resolution is not final and that they consider the possibility of filing an appeal, for which they have a period of one month.
“We are alien and we move away from any negative connotation”
“As has always been the case, we are outsiders and we distance ourselves from any negative connotation attributed to us by the SPTO and the Italian Embassy.“, comments from Grupo LMssLM. “Our focus is on continuing to build the future of the company and we keep the essence of the project intact: a quality Italian-Mediterranean gastronomic proposal and a differential restaurant experience.”.
La Mafia Se Sienta a la Table, which has nearly 120 open restaurants, celebrated 25 years in 2025 and commemorated the milestone with the renewal of its visual identity, a move that it would have made within the framework of the period of strategic reflection in which it claims to have been immersed during the last year.
The objective of the update, carried out together with the branding agency Waka, was to highlight its evolution, its proposal based on quality and customer experience, and accompany a growth plan.
