This is THE subject that comes up in conversations at Espelette. Like in this cafe this Wednesday, market day. Xan, sitting with friends, gets carried away: “More than 50 years ago I participated in the creation of the Ezpela dance group, I even suggested the name! You still have to respect the village data before you want to swallow the whole village”. The name Ezpela became a brand this spring. Spouses Ramuntxo Lecuona and Maritxu Garacotche learned this the hard way. This was served on them by a bailiff on November 22.
Producers of peppers in the village, they created their agricultural company with this name, EARL Ezpela 20 years ago. They produce and process chili in all its forms, also make ready meals, which they sell in their Lurretik store, with the name Ezpela on their labels. However, this name was registered with the INPI last May and June by the company Etxe Peio Invest for a long, very long list of products that would bear this name. Etxe Peio, a company which opened its first salted meats store in Dax in 2012, now has around fifteen stores in the Basque Country, in the Landes and in the Gironde. A company that bought the Espelette Accoceberry cannery in 2019. Unavailable this Wednesday, the young boss of the company, Pierre Giudicelli of Mercury, intends to give his point of view in the coming days.
Dispossession
It is an understatement to say that this appropriation of the name by this company is badly experienced. Maritxu Garacotche is one of the pioneers who worked to obtain the Designation of Origin Piment d’Espelette in 2000, which became the village’s red gold: “we feel dispossessed, we feel robbed”. For Ramuntxo Lecuona “he is a businessman who monopolizes the collective and long-standing work of associations, elected officials, producers”.
It’s a little embarrassing to see people arriving and taking names that belong to the municipality of Espelette (Jean-Marie Iputcha, mayor of Espelette)
The mayor of Espelette Jean-Marie Iputcha also deplores the situation: “it’s a little embarrassing to see people arriving and taking names that belong to the municipality of Espelette, even if they do not officially belong to it, it is an image, Ezpela is an image of Espelette “. The affair also agitates its citizens.
– Iban Etxezaharreta
Small posters have appeared in the village, Ezpela gira #Ezpelanaiz (“we are Ezpela, I am Ezpela” in Basque). Same thing on social networks. And until a tag on the front of the Etxe Peio d’Espelette store on New Year’s Eve, “Ezpela ez da salgai” (Ezpela is not for sale) in very clear reference to the graffiti that has been popping up recently on real estate agencies (“Euskal Herria ez da salgai “, the Basque Country is not for sale).
The dispute over the ownership and commercial use of the Ezpela name is far from over. The case should be decided in court. The file is in the hands of the respective lawyers. That of the producers and processors of Espelette pepper argues for its part on the anteriority of the exploitation and points out “parasitism” from Etxe Peio Invest. For the moment, the latter has contested and obtained from the INPI not to accept Ramuntxo Lecuona’s application to register the Ezpela trademark at the end of August after having heard of Etxe Peio’s previous approach.
In the meantime, the Etxe Peio company continues its development in the village. In addition to the two stores it owns in Espelette, Etxe Peio and Accoceberry, in February / March, a new restaurant and an Espadrilles store will be added. He will be called Ezpela.