Christian Louboutin has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against competitor shoe designer, Yves Saint Laurent. Louboutin claims that Yves Saint Laurent is infringing on its trademark, filed by the United States Trademark and Patent Office in 2008, of selling women’s shoes with red soles. The red sole has become closely associated with the Louboutin name and the brand’s identity. The lawsuit, filed on April 8, 2011, raises implications for the trademark world, as at the forefront of this lawsuit is the extent to which a color may be offered trademark protection.
Tension lies between whether allowing Louboutin to claim ownership to a red sole would harm competition in the fashion world, as opposed to whether Yves Saint Laurent’s use of a red sole on its footwear threatens to mislead the public and will impair Louboutin’s ability to control its reputation.
The general understanding of trademark law in the United States is that colors can be trademarked when they are utilized to identify the source of a product. The color must not serve any other function. When should the color of a product be regarded by a court to be “aesthetically functional” and not subject to trademark protection? On August 10, 2011, Judge Marreo denied Louboutin’s request for an injunction to stop sales of red-soled shoes “because in the fashion industry color serves ornamental and aesthetic functions vital to robust competition, the court finds that Louboutin is unlikely to prove that its red outsole brand is entitled to trademark protection.”
Louboutin plans to appeal the decision as the fashion war continues on the right to trademark a sole color.
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About Andrea J. Yasnogorodsky