The Frisby Opening in Madrid Is Not the Colombian Chicken Chain

Empresas

A delayed Madrid restaurant opening has revealed a cautionary tale about protecting a brand abroad, and the Frisby Spain trademark dispute sits at the heart of it. On the surface this looks like a simple piece of business news.

A fried-chicken chain called Frisby has pushed back the opening of its first Madrid restaurant from the first of July to the fifteenth of August, blaming logistics. Read quickly, a foreign observer might assume a famous Colombian brand is expanding into Europe.

That assumption would be wrong, and the reason why is the interesting part.

Two companies, one name, and a Frisby Spain trademark battle

Frisby is an institution in Colombia. Founded in the city of Pereira around forty-eight years ago, it is the country’s biggest fried-chicken chain, with annual revenue of roughly two hundred million dollars.

The company preparing to open in Madrid is a separate, Spain-based business that adopted the Frisby name, logo and visual identity. Its spokesman is a young French entrepreneur named Charles Dupont.

The Colombian company says this is plain trademark usurpation, an attempt to trade on a reputation it spent decades building. The Spanish company argues it had every legal right to the name in Europe.

The row first surfaced in May of last year, when social-media profiles announced that Frisby chicken was coming to Spain. Many Colombians assumed their home-grown chain was finally going global, only to learn it was an unrelated firm.

That stung because Frisby is more than a restaurant in Colombia. It carries the kind of nostalgic, near-national affection that turns a brand into a piece of cultural identity, and the original company has leaned on that public support throughout the fight.

How the European company won the legal ground

The dispute turns on a single principle of trademark law. A registered mark must actually be used, or it can be cancelled and claimed by someone else.

Under European Union rules, the body that oversees this is the EU Intellectual Property Office, which can revoke a trademark that has not been put to genuine use within five years of registration.

That is exactly what undid the Colombian firm’s position. Spain’s national patent office cancelled the Frisby trademarks it had held since 2001, on the grounds that the brand was never actually used on Spanish soil.

A separate court in Alicante then lifted an injunction that had been blocking the Spanish company’s launch. With those obstacles gone, the Madrid opening could finally be scheduled.

Why the delay matters and what comes next

The August delay itself is minor, and the company insists its wider plan is intact. It still aims for five outlets in Spain by the end of this year, with stores in southern Madrid and central Barcelona due in September.

The bigger question is the unfinished legal fight. A wider European ruling on the name is still pending, which means ownership of the brand across the bloc is not yet settled.

For any Latin American company with a treasured brand, the lesson is blunt. A name famous at home is not protected abroad unless it is registered and actively used there.

Is the Frisby opening in Madrid the Colombian chain?

No, it is not. The business opening in Madrid is a separate company based in Spain that adopted the Frisby name and look.

The original Frisby is a Colombian chain founded in Pereira around forty-eight years ago.

What is the Frisby Spain trademark dispute about?

It is a fight over who may use the Frisby name in Europe. Spain’s patent office cancelled the Colombian firm’s local trademarks because the brand had never been used there, clearing the way for the Spanish company.

When will the Madrid restaurant open?

The first store in central Madrid is now scheduled for the fifteenth of August, delayed from the first of July. Further outlets in southern Madrid and Barcelona are planned for September.

Connected Coverage

For a Colombian brand winning on the world stage rather than losing it, see how a factory in Cali beat Asia to make Colombia’s World Cup shirt. For the wider business scene, read our look at how Colombia now counts more than two thousand startups.