The European Union’s highest court dismissed a legal bid by the heirs of Pablo Picasso to stop the car firm DaimlerChrysler from using the trademark “Picaro” which, they argued, was too similar to the name of the artist.

Five of the painter’s children and grandchildren had asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to intervene. They argued that DaimlerChrysler’s trademark risked confusion with the name “Picasso”, which they had licensed to Citroen-Peugeot for use on one of its cars. It was the family’s last appeal, after a series of defeats in lower European courts, one of which, last September, saw them given an astonishing dressing down by a senior officer of the ECJ.

The final ruling was less colourful, but no kinder to the Picasso family. The justices of the ECJ dismissed their argument that the two names were easily confused. A Picaro is no Picasso, and that’s final.