It appears that the French town tried to co-opt a Slovenian tourist attraction in order to lure foreign tourists. Styrian vineyards and tourist agencies were appalled.

Alojz Gaube, a local winegrower, said that every trademark is the result of hard work; therefore, the heart-shaped road should be copyright-protected. "It's a municipal road, so I think the municipality should copyright-protect it," said Gaube.
Kungota Mayor Igor Stropnik said that they've considered copyright-protecting the road, but it turned out that the measure would be too costly.

Where do they go from here?
The Slovenian Tourist Board was none too pleased, either. They said they would look into the matter and take the appropriate measures. "We will definitely use this to promote our region," said Maja Pak, the acting director of the Slovenian Tourist Board.

The French town wasn't the first to steal the photograph of the heart-shaped road to use it for their own purposes. Five years ago, the road was also featured in a video clip designed to promote Austria as a wine-growing region.

The French apologize
The Strasbourg Tourist Office Board has, meanwhile, apologized for the misuse of the photograph. They reassured everyone that they would remove the brochure from their website.