A small Portuguese brand of artisanal liqueurs won a dispute against Louis Vuitton in court, after the French luxury brand challenged the use of the initials “LV” in the logo of the Minho company Licores do Vale, created in Monção. The case pitted a family business, linked to the sale of liqueurs, jams, honey and biscuits at local fairs, against one of the best-known luxury brands in the world, which claimed similarities to its famous monogram. The court decision ended up ruling in favor of the Portuguese company and paved the way for the registration of the brand.
Case involved the letters “L” and “V”
At the center of the process was the registration of the brand “LV – Licores do Vale”, used by André Ferreira and Tânia Afonso to identify artisanal products such as liqueurs, jams, honey and biscuits, sold mainly at local fairs. Louis Vuitton considered that the arrangement of the letters could be too close to its well-known monogram.
According to , the National Institute of Industrial Property had initially accepted the registration of the Portuguese brand, but Louis Vuitton went to court, temporarily halting the process. The French company argued that there was enough similarity to be able to create confusion or benefit from the luxury brand’s notoriety.
Louis Vuitton alleged “unfair competition”
According to the same source, Louis Vuitton pointed to an alleged “parasitic exploitation” of the prestige of its brand and also spoke of “unfair competition”. The multinational maintained that the sign used by Licores do Vale was similar to its own on a verbal, phonetic and conceptual level.
NiT, a Portuguese digital media outlet, adds that the registration request would have been submitted in August 2024 and approved in January, despite objections from the French house, which invoked priority international trademark registrations. The same source says that the legal appeal ended up temporarily suspending the registration of the Portuguese brand.
Court ruled in favor of the Monção brand
The decision ended up being favorable to Licores do Vale. RTP reported that the Portuguese brand beat Louis Vuitton in an intellectual property right case, after the French multinational accused it of copying the “LV”.
The victory was celebrated by Licores do Vale itself on social media, in a post in which it thanked the support received over the last few months and argued that the “L” and “V” belong to “everyone”. The publication was cited by Euronews, which states that the dispute had been going on for more than a year.
A family business that gained unexpected prominence
The logo was developed by André Ferreira and his girlfriend, Tânia Afonso, to represent a family project linked to local products. According to NiT, André Ferreira explained that the “L” refers to liquors and that the “V”, turned upside down, symbolizes the valley and mountains around the parish.
The case ended up giving national and international visibility to a small artisanal brand from Monção, which did not expect to find itself involved in a legal dispute with one of the best-known luxury houses in the world. With the favorable decision, Licores do Vale has an open path to move forward with the brand and take its products to a wider market.
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