It’s a new episode (and last?) in the war of knives. The National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) has just approved the protected geographical indication (PGI) “Couteau de Laguiole”, after a legal battle lasting several years. This administrative approach should, in principle, now protect the know-how of local cutlers established on the Aubrac plateau from (Asian) counterfeits.
“This is a great victory for the Union of Aveyron Knife Manufacturers of Laguiole (SFACL), which has been working for more than ten years on the recognition of this emblematic knife of the Aubrac territory, in close collaboration with the local and regional elected officials,” comments the association which brought this matter forward.
Former Secretary of State responsible for Commerce, Crafts, Consumption and the Social and Solidarity Economy from 2014 to 2015, under François Hollande, the president of the Occitanie Region Carole Delga got involved in the matter. It is in particular its community which financed the advisory services necessary for the association to put together this IGP file.
“What a great victory for the Union of Aveyron Knife Manufacturers of Laguiole, and more broadly for the cutlers of Aubrac. Our collective mobilization has paid off,” Carole Delga reacted today in a press release.
The regional elected official had already reacted following a court decision handed down this summer, emphasizing that “ The Laguiole knife is a strong marker of identity for Aubrac, and more broadly for Aveyron, it helps to promote all of Occitania throughout the world ».
Thiers bets on history
At the beginning of July, the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal canceled a first protected geographical indication dedicated to the Laguiole knife, this small village in Aveyron also recognized for its AOP cheese. For good reason, the IGP canceled by the courts was not carried by the Union of Aveyron Laguiole knife manufacturers, but by the CLAA association – Couteau Laguiole Aubrac Auvergne, based in Thiers (Puy-de-Dôme).
Laguiole against Thiers, a war of daggers drawn. Reporting
The difference between the two files? The geographical area where the Laguiole knife can be produced. Unsurprisingly, the SFACL then defended a candidacy which only concerns the Aubrac cutlers, which account for 200 jobs and around 15 million euros in turnover. On the other hand, the CLAA brought a file which includes professionals from Aveyron and those from its territory, 400 of whom would be affected by the production of Laguiole knives.
The First World War caused the loss of many local artisans in Laguiole, and particularly cutlers, to the point that they could be counted on the fingers of one hand at the end of the conflict. “But the Thiers basin has made it possible to preserve this artisanal know-how of the Laguiole knife”entrusted in 2022 to The Tribune chef Sébastien Bras, who equipped the tables of his restaurant with Laguiole knives and who himself has his small private collection.
“To supply customers, some of the Laguiole cutlers relied on Thiers, located 200 km further north, from the 1860s. The Thiernois region, which benefited from a large workforce and which controlled all stages of manufacturing, thus ensured the production and subcontracting of finished Laguiole knives and spare parts (…) The First World War marks the decline of production in Laguiole, due to lack of labor. However, traders continue to obtain supplies from their partners in Thiers, who have kept production going,” detailed the INPI to justify the validation, in 2022, of the file defended by Thiers.
An appeal launched?
But for the locals, despite this liability, the demand is clear: “ a geographical indication is a municipality, a know-how and a product », comments the mayor of Laguiole, Vincent Alazard, to The Tribune. To perpetuate this know-how at the local level, the ecosystem set up a cutlery CAP in the town a few months ago, in partnership with National Education.
“The new decision of the INPI is the important reaffirmation of the values of the system: the link with the geographical territory whose name the GI bears, which cannot be located outside Aveyron and which must prevail, in accordance with the legitimate expectations of consumers,” adds the Union of Aveyron Knife Manufacturers of Laguiole, in a press release dated October 18.
Joined by The Tribune to comment on this decision of the INPI, Aubry Verdier, the president of the Couteau Laguiole Aubrac Auvergne association has not yet responded to our requests. According to the newspaper Le Figarothe CLAA association would file a cassation appeal to try to overturn the decision of the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal this summer.
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