Long before he met with Sean Penn for an interview that would lead, at least partly, to his recapture last week, lawyers for Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán applied to have his name trademarked, the Guardian reports, citing Mexican journalist Carlos Loret de Mola.

According to de Mola, writing in Mexican newspaper El Universal, during the drug kingpin’s last period behind bars—so, sometime February 2014 and July 2015—lawyers tried to register the name “El Chapo Guzmán,” apparently in preparation for the biopic he was reportedly interested in having made about himself. IMPI denied the request.

This wasn’t the first time El Chapo tried to take action to trademark his identity. In 2011, Reuters reports, Alejandrina Gisselle Guzmán, who is believed to be Guzmán’s daughter, applied to trademark the names “Joaquin El Chapo Guzman” and “El Chapo Guzman,” which would have extended to clothing and apparel. Those requests were also rejected, given that Guzmán was, at the time, a wanted fugitive.

“The name Joaquín does not belong to any narcotics trafficker wanted by the authorities, since the name of this person is only ARCHIVALDO GUZMÁN LOERA,” a lawyer for the Guzmán family, José Antonio Magaña Jiménez, wrote back in an appeal letter. “The name GUZMÁN is a common surname in Mexico.” He added that the trademark was not trying to “apologize for crime,” the Guardian reports.

(According to Reuters, a brand under the name “El Chapo,” registered in 2006, is listed on the IMPI website.)

More than anything he should probably trademark his likeness: Someone made a bunch of money off El Chapo masks this past Halloween.

Photo via AP Images. Contact the author of this post: brendan.oconnor@gawker.com.