Trademarks claiming heritage through historical dates may be deceptive and invalid

In Fauré Le Page v Goyard (C‑412/24), the Court of Justice of the EU ruled on 26 March 2026 that a trademark incorporating a date perceived as a founding year and falsely evoking long‑standing know‑how, quality and prestige may be regarded as deceptive.

“Fauré Le Page Paris 1717” was registered as a trademark for luxury leather goods, yet the original Maison was dissolved in 1992 and the current company dates only from 2009. The Court did not follow the Opinion of the Advocate General and confirmed that, in the luxury sector, quality also derives from prestige and image. A false heritage date therefore deceives consumers as to the quality of the goods themselves, and that is enough to invalidate the mark.

The reasoning is reminiscent of an earlier case where the Antwerp Court of Appeal condemned the use of “Since 1935” on a brand‑new cigarette pack as a misleading commercial practice, because it gave the false impression that the cigarette brand has existed since 1935. The year 1935 referred, at best, to the founding of a predecessor company, not to the cigarette brand itself (judgments of 1 February 2016 and 23 January 2017, available on IE-forum). Same thread, same outcome: evoking long‑standing know‑how that does not exist misleads consumers, whether on a trade mark register or on product packaging.

The judgment invites a fresh look at many marks - especially in luxury, spirits and fashion - where a founding year masks a broken or reinvented corporate history.