Louis Vuitton Goes to War with Portuguese Brand: "Parasitic Exploitation of Prestige"

Signs, symbols and logos are like a fingerprint for brands. Therefore, even slight similarities in graphics promoting other companies, similar to those iconic ones, become a reason for legal disputes. This was recently discovered by a small Portuguese company producing liqueurs, which was sued by the French fashion group Louis Vuitton.

According to a lawsuit filed by Louis Vuitton in the Intellectual Property Court, Licores do Vale uses a logo that is too similar to the one associated with the luxury fashion house. The Portuguese company has put up the LV symbol with an inverted V.

As reported by the daily Jornal de Notícias, Louis Vuitton accuses the company from Monção in northern Portugal of "parasitically exploiting the prestige of the brand and creating unfair competition by using an identical or similar symbol."

André Ferreira, who is just starting out in business, explained that he designed the logo with his girlfriend to promote the product at small agricultural markets in his region. As he explains, the L stands for liqueurs and the V for valley (in Portuguese, vale). The latter is turned upside down to symbolize the mountains surrounding the parish of Longos Vales, where Ferreria lives.

- The Louis Vuitton logo and the Licores do Vale logo have nothing in common," he stressed.