Pedro Pascal v Pedro Piscal: actor in legal battle with Chilean spirit brand

The actor Pedro Pascal is waging a legal battle against a Chilean pisco merchant who has chosen a cheeky name for his brand of the country’s national spirit: Pedro Piscal.

David Herrera registered the brand name with a Chilean commercial regulator in 2023 and began selling his pisco in off-licences and restaurants.

“We tried a few names and Pedro Piscal stuck,” Herrera, 41, said. “Then we were planning a trip up to the Pisco region when suddenly we were getting strongly worded emails from lawyers. Me, a mere mortal, getting emails from a superstar actor? It scared me a bit.”

The Pedro Piscal brand name was registered with a Chilean commercial regulator in 2023. Photograph: Pedro Piscal

Pascal, who was born in Chile and is a popular figure in his home country, did not attend a court hearing but filed to take control of the brand name on account of its similarity with his own name and brand.

Herrera is not the first Chilean entrepreneur to have found themselves facing down a Hollywood A-lister in court over a cheeky pun. A honey business calling itself Miel Gibson – using a still from Braveheart on the label – won the right to keep using the name after the actor sued.

Miel Gibson fought off a legal challenge from its Hollywood near namesake. Photograph: Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images

In 2020, DC Comics went after a bakery in Santiago that had called itself Superpan for three decades and used images of Clark Kent and his famous “S” symbol. The bakery emerged victorious.

And across town, not far from a printing business named Harry Plotter, Matías Jara runs Star Wash, a car wash service that borrows liberally from the Star Wars canon – and even uses its famous font.