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Wine, Spirits & Terroirs
The Wine, Spirits & Terroirs team offers 360° legal expertise to producers, distributors, interprofessional organizations and appellation syndicates. We provide legal advice and representation before French and European courts, and assist clients with all administrative formalities.
| FIELD | OUR AREAS OF EXPERTISE |
|---|---|
| PRODUCTION | • Rural leases • Farmer status, SAFER, and structure control • Agricultural undertakings - cooperatives • Authorizations for vine planting • Supply contracts • Regulatory framework for production, manufacture, and control protocols of foodstuff products |
| VALUE CREATION | • Regulation for quality signs: PDO/PGI/GI regulations, GIs for non-agricultural products, organic farming, traditional labels, and quality labels • Defense of GI (direct and indirect commercial use, evocation…) • Administrative procedures before French and European authorities regarding PDO/PGI/GI (registration, amendment, and cancellation of product specifications) and trademarks • Litigation related to the respect of the PDO/PGI product specification |
| COMMERCIALIZATION | • Labelling and packaging • Advertisement of alcohol • Commercial restrictions to alcohol • Securing marketing projects • Sales contracts for food products • Distribution law (distribution contracts, agent contracts) • Unfair competition law • European and international trade in wines and spirits • Internal Market (freedoms & competition) • State aid • ECHR applying in the food sector • E-commerce (CGV, marketplace), digital (NFT, metaverse) • Customs procedures |
| TAXATION | • Prevention – tax audit • Alcohol taxation and excise duties • Taxation of farms, vineyards and cooperatives • International wines and spirits taxation • E-commerce taxation • Taxation of added-value of agricultural holdings and of transfer of ownership • Legal assistance and representation in tax audits |
| TRADEMARKS AND BRANDING |
• Wine, spirits, brewery and food trademarks • Collective and certification marks • Family name trademarks • Management and auditing of trademark portfolios • Designs and copyrights • Patents and plant variety rights • Domain names • Business and trade secret |
| ANTI-COUNTERFEITING | • Intellectual property litigation and disputes: counterfeiting, unfair and parasitic competition • Online anti-counterfeiting (web monitoring, domain name recovery and buy-back) • Customs procedures • Administrative procedures relating to oenological practices, food safety controls and consumer information • Criminal Law, fraud, and deceptive trade practices (proceedings before the DGCCRF) |
