The INPI confirmed: "The identity of Port Grimaud belongs... to Port Grimaud"!

BAD FAITH The little blue and green fish is not dead. It is patiently waiting in the depths of the canals. It is the sign of belonging to a territory, the visual identity of an entire community, the inhabitants of Port Grimaud.

By creating a blue fish, representing the sea, and a green one for natural land, architect François Spoerry, founder of Port Grimaud, wanted to associate this symbol with the lakeside city from its creation.

For over 50 years, the lakeside city of Port Grimaud has been considered a work of art that must benefit from legal protection, as decided by the courts. Nearly 60 years later, in a new affair as symbolic as it is surprising, the latter found itself forced to defend its name and identity against its own town hall.

What might have seemed harmless, a simple visual usage, turned into a legal battle in the field of intellectual property law. Yet another episode that sheds light on the tensions between the municipality of Grimaud and the representative bodies of Port Grimaud.

The lakeside city uses its official logo, registered and protected with the INPI (Institut National de la propriété Industrielle). This symbol is not just an image; it represents the collective identity of the residents of Port Grimaud, the heritage value, and the local reputation of the place.

It was with astonishment that the Association Syndicale, holder of intellectual property and reproduction rights, noticed that its own town hall was trying to strip it of its trademarks in 2022.

In 2025, considering that these filings had been made in bad faith with the sole purpose of harming the lakeside city, and in order to use an identity that was not its own for commercial purposes and appropriate the name of Port Grimaud, the association syndicale brought the case before the INPI to cancel the disputed trademarks. In a tense context between the parties, while Port Grimaud possessed an earlier identity on all points that must be respected, the INPI considered that the bad faith of the municipality was characterized in the filing of the various trademarks and that all trademark filings for "Port Grimaud" made by the local authority in 2022 should be declared void.

Buoyed by this good news and the autumn calm returning to the lakeside city, our fish has resurfaced in the flow of the canals and in the air! Garantix and Armonix, friends of the city who often visit, chose to stay quietly in their small village while Port Grimaud recorded the highest tourist attendance in the region for a non-public site with 1,200,000 visitors and 800 buses over the course of this year, representing a 70% increase!

They are, however, closely following all the files, and will return soon to advise and share their experiences with the residents of Port Grimaud.

To be continued!