• In November 2020, a majority of the Aveyron Laguiole cutlers filed a “Laguiole Knife” geographical indication file with the INPI.

  • Since then, manufacturers of Laguiole knives based mainly in Thiers have also filed a file for a geographical indication around the same "Laguiole knife".

  • This Monday, the INPI rejected the request of the Aveyronnais and will make its decision by the end of May 21 for that of the craftsmen of Puy-de-Dôme.

After fighting for years before the courts to be able to reuse its name, Laguiole has just lost a new battle to have the know-how of its forges recognized in the manufacture of its famous bee knife.

A disappointment for the cutlers of Aubrac which comes this time from the National Institute of Industrial Property with which several companies employing 220 employees had filed in November 2020 a file requesting a geographical indication of Laguiole knives.

A way for these local manufacturers to maintain local jobs on site and "defend know-how".

But Monday, the Inpi decided to reject this request.

It must be said that in the meantime, other manufacturers have also decided to file a geographical indication application for the same knives, but this time stamped "Laguiole Knife".

Thiers second knife

A project led by the association " Couteau Laguiole Aubrac Auvergne" which includes a large majority of craftsmen from the Thiers basin.

For years they too have been producing the famous knife and did not want to be deprived of the possibility of also having a geographical indication.

“The attribution of a GI cannot exclude the cutlers of the Thiers basin who have continuously maintained the associated traditional know-how for more than one hundred and fifty years.

Especially since the latter have enabled the survival of this knife, which is now emblematic of French cutlery,” they argued when filing their file.

The public inquiry into this second request ended on the evening of March 21.

"The legal deadline for sending the summary to the association is two months, so by May 21," says Inpi.

For the past two years, manufacturers from Aveyron and Puy-de-Dôme have therefore been at loggerheads to find out which of the two will win the precious label.

Those of Laguiole did not hide their disappointment on Monday.

“We are very disappointed and surprised that the Inpi does not give us a favorable opinion.

If the Inpi validates Thiers' request, the geographical indication will encompass six departments and the knives can be manufactured 250 or 300 km from Laguiole”, lamented Honoré Durand, the president of the union of Aveyron manufacturers of Laguiole knives.

Like deja vu with Marseille soap

He notes that the manufacturing conditions in the two territories are not the same, but above all that there would be a lack of clarity for the consumer who seeks to obtain knives from Aveyron.

And received the support of many elected officials, in particular that of the president of the Occitanie region, Carole Delga.

Today, he intends to appeal.

The legal follow-up could lead the file to the status quo, or rather to a real imbroglio, as is the case for the geographical indication of Marseille soap.

For years, several associations have been competing to obtain the precious sesame for the washing pad based on olive oil.

Some fight to limit the name to the geographical area, others to the manufacturing process of the product.

And in the meantime, Marseille soap still has no GI.

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  • Toulouse

  • Heritage

  • Knife

  • Occitania