Jérôme Bocuse's lawyers have denounced before the Lyon court the contract signed by the chef during his lifetime and hope for a decision "at the latest at the end of 2023", explained to AFP Me Carine Piccio.

"As it is a contract whose termination has already been notified for serious and repeated misconduct over time, we want to have the situation recorded in court", she specifies.

On the side of the Paul Bocuse Institute, school of management of the hotel industry, catering and culinary arts (IPB), it is "misunderstanding".

"We are accused of intentions on approaches and differences that would have economic connotations. This is not the case", regrets Dominique Giraudier, the director general of this private institute which welcomes some 1,200 students on ten campuses.

A student sets a table at the Institut Paul Bocuse, in Ecully, near Lyon, on December 9, 2015 © / AFP/Archives

The local press is closely following this case, which the heir son's lawyers describe as linked to "a precarious right to use the Bocuse name".

"This contract, which is not a trademark license, does not grant anything else to the institute, no marketing of the Bocuse name, no association of the Bocuse name with X or Y brands, etc.", explains Mr. Carine Piccio.

However, the son of the late chef believes that the Institute makes "a real commercial use of the name", as for example with frozen products stamped with "recipes from the Paul Bocuse Institute".

Who owns the trademark?

Can the Paul Bocuse Institute claim rights and have a "use of the name of the school in a public and peaceful way", as the IPB council puts it?

Justice will have to decide.

"All his career Paul Bocuse has promoted fresh products, short circuits, has made a point of ensuring that his name and his image carry the values ​​of tradition. For him, it was out of the question for the institute to use his name in a meaning contrary to what he was defending", advance Me Piccio.

"I respect Jérôme Bocuse's wish to do what he wants with his brand and his surname, but we cannot accuse the school of having misled this when we see the school's successes, and what that can carry as a positive image in memory of this great leader", affirms Dominique Giraudier.

"We are one of the best schools listed in the world for our professions", he underlines, recalling that the strategy is "carried by a board of directors which brings together around twenty companies and patrons".

© 2022 AFP