High-end French jeweller Van Cleef & Arpels has been charged with using a ring design allegedly stolen from a gem trader, according to a court document obtained by AFP on Saturday, reports FRANCE 24.
Trader Francois Le Goarant de Tromelin filed a complaint against the exclusive jewellery house in 2011 claiming to hold the rights to the model of a ring set with precious gems called the "Antoinette", thought to be named in honour of his wife, Antonieta.
The jeweller was charged with counterfeit on June 14, a judicial source told AFP.
Van Cleef & Arpels disputes Le Goarant's story and claims full ownership of the design.
The dispute is just the latest between the trader and the company connected to a separate affair between Le Goarant and another trader, Robert Szumeraj, with whom he shared an office before Szumeraj was murdered in 1997 by a business rival.
Read more of this AFP report published by FRANCE 24.