Vendôme: court cancels sale of town's name to Louis Vuitton

The Orléans administrative court has cancelled the 10,000 euro sale of the town of Vendôme's name to the Louis Vuitton group. The municipality, which responded in a statement on Thursday, described the appeal as having “no real legal utility”.

In February 2021, the municipality approved by resolution the sale of the town of Vendôme's name to Louis Vuitton for 10,000 euros. The agreement was for ten years and for the purpose of marketing its jewellery products.

“The town of Vendôme is not selling its name to Louis Vuitton, a subsidiary of LVMH, but is selling the Vendôme brand to simply allow the use of the name ‘Vendôme’ for any creation of a collection or products related to luxury jewellery,” mayor Laurent Brillard explained to the AFP at the time.

Nevertheless, an association was formed to contest the sale, particularly due to the price being considered insufficient.

In a ruling on September 24, the Orléans administrative court acknowledged that “such a trademark falls within the private domain of the municipality and can therefore be sold,” making a “sales contract possible”.

However, it also found that the municipality “did not justify the requested price of 10,000 euros” and that it was impossible “to verify its calculation methods”.

The court therefore annulled the sale “for abuse of power,” cancelling the resolution of February 4, 2021 that authorised it.

In a statement, the municipality lamented an appeal “without any real legal utility,” indicating that “the case has been closed” since July 1, 2022. This was the date the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) refused to register the name “Vendôme” as a trademark.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

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