Furious Frenchies tell Apple to bubble off: Bling iPhone isn't 'champagne'
Oenophiles: Nous cracher sur votre téléphone horrible, ha ha
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French booze watchdogs have warned Apple that its decision to flog a blinged-up "champagne gold" version of the iPhone could end in a nasty court battle.
Most Apple watchers now agree that the fruity firm is about to offer fanbois the chance to buy a garish gold phone, but the trade body that represents champagne makers has other ideas.
As bubbly-loving Reg readers will know, the word champagne is protected and can only be given to fizzy white wine produced in a specific region of France.
The CVC (Comité interprofessionnel du vin de Champagne - or the Interprofessional Committee for Champagne Wine, in English) warned Apple it would not take kindly to any attempt to use the word champagne.
“Champagne doesn’t have one single colour,” Charles Goamaere, CIVC’s legal director told the L’Union l’Ardennais newspaper.
“So we can’t say that a champagne colour exists. Therefore, any company wanting to use the name champagne would be doing so to attract all the benefits that surround [the name].”
French wine snobs have a history of stomping out products which dare to (whisper it) call themselves champagne. Fashion designer Yves St Laurent was forced to rethink plans to name a perfume after the fizzy plonk, while Perrier used to be known as the "champagne of mineral water" until the oenophiles had their wicked way. ®
