Last week a California judge handed down several rulings in favor of Adidas in its suit against Sketchers for allegedly copying several designs including the iconic three stripe logo, its Supernova trademark, and the design of its popular Stan Smith shoe.
As the Court points out, Adidas and Sketchers have been locked in ongoing litigation since 1995, and the present case is merely another layer in this feud.
The Court denied several of Sketchers’ motions and granted several of Adidas’ including a motion for summary judgment against Sketchers’ functionality affirmative defense to claims of trade dress infringement.
Despite the slough of negative rulings, Sketchers has found a silver lining regarding the allegations of trademark infringement. For Adidas’ three stripe logo, the Court found that the “E” design on Sketchers’ Cross Court shoe was not similar when viewed in a pre-sale context.
Sketchers will likely rely heavily on this point as part of its likelihood of confusion analysis for the purchasing consumers to show that any post-sale similarities would not have affected purchasing decisions.
Source: Footwear News
