Château Figeac could lose its name according to justice

Thunderclap in Saint-Emilion : the Premier Grand Cru Classé Château Figeac was doomed to lose two of its prestigious brands !

The Bordeaux Tribunal de Grande Instance has ruled, End of november, the loss of the Château's rights to the “Château Figeac” and “Château de Figeac” brands as well as their cancellation under 3 months in the national trademark register. This decision may surprise, because for several years the domain has won its legal fight against wine properties using the name "Figeac".

Domains close to a few meters

In this file, the Castle was attacking a neighbor close to only 500 meters : Richard Moreaud. The latter is the owner of the brands "château Cormeil-Figeac" and "château Magnan-Figeac". For him, this desire to ban the use of the name "Figeac" is "is a stupid story".

Without notice, the domain received an assignment in 2012. “We've been living together for a century and then suddenly, they started to attack us. Why ? We do not compete with them because we do not have the same positioning at all, they are first classified grand cru, we are grand cru. The prices are totally different, the labels are totally different ", explained M. Moreaud.

"The Château wants to have a monopoly on the name and does not want there to be wines that can use their name despite the historical rights that we have", has he defended himself, specifying that he has "notarial deeds that refer to the 17th and 18th century".

The only discussion took place on 27 last September during the hearing. Result of this battle : both parties were sentenced by the court.

About Château Cormeil-figeac, owned by the Moreaud family, the court was only able to establish that "the plots of vines they own come from the original estate, dismembered in the 19th century. "

On the side of the aggressive Château, he was not able to provide proof that the wines marketed under the names of "Château Figeac" and "Château de Figeac" were vinified under conditions excluding any mixing with the other wines of the estate, in particular "Petit-Figeac" and "La Grange Neuve de Figeac", thus losing their two most famous brands.

Radio silence in Figeac

Of course, each of the parties appealed against the court decision. Despite this draw, Richard Moreaud sees it as a great victory : "This is the first time that the Chateau has been countered in one of these lawsuits. We are not upset, we are rather proud. But what we would especially like, this is the end of this stupid story. We, we are a very small vintage with fairly low prices. We do not overshadow them… ”

The castle is much less talkative than its opponent. The estate confirms the appeal of the court decision, but does not wish "to comment on it, the case being investigated. »In the coming months, a new trial should therefore take place before the Court of Appeal.. Domains with the word "Figeac" will know if they can keep their name. A decision that will therefore be followed very closely !

"Protect the brand of our wines"

However, the castle explained : "We are taking action to protect the brand of our wines. It's like in any business. From a business point of view, it is essential to protect your brand. "

Driven by this principle, the castle has gone on the offensive, initiating legal proceedings against its neighbors for more than 10 years. In November 2012, several domains lost the legal war waged by the domain. The Rocher-Bellevue-Figeac estate and its brands La Croix-Figeac and Pavillon La Croix-Figeac have already been prohibited from using the term "Figeac".

" Here, there are Figeacs everywhere, book Richard Moreaud, owner of Château Cormeil-Figeac. We can count about thirty ! But "Figeac" does not wish to share and wants the exclusivity of the name. However, we have no vengeful aim. We just want to plead our case, which seems fair to us. We are really not procedural. "