Adidas Told Three Stripes Aren't Enough for a Trademark
June 19 2019 - 2:22PM
Dow Jones News
By Sara Germano
BERLIN -- Are three stripes a trademark?
Adidas AG thinks so, but Europe's second highest court ruled on
Wednesday that the German sportswear giant's iconic branding didn't
qualify, saying Adidas hadn't offered sufficient evidence to claim
the parallel stripes were a mark of "distinctive character" worthy
of protection.
In the annals of branding, the three stripes rank among the most
recognizable product markings, from the sportswear maker's bold
track suits with three-stripe piping to its white shell-toe
sneakers with stripes down the sides.
The ruling by the General Court of the European Union, which is
open to appeal for the next two months, could make it more
difficult for Adidas to go after rivals using the three-stripe
motif, according to a person familiar with the court.
The court found that the three stripes in question were
essentially too basic a pattern to be deemed a trademark. "Given
the extreme simplicity of the mark at issue," the ruling said,
"even a slight variation could produce a significant alteration to
the characteristics of the mark as registered."
Much of the ruling grapples with evidence provided by Adidas in
an earlier stage of the case, including images showing Adidas
products with three-stripe markings, as well as market surveys from
around Europe to indicate consumers' awareness of the Adidas
stripes. The court found that such evidence wasn't relevant to the
specific application of the trademark in question.
Claudia Lange, a spokeswoman for Adidas, said the company had
many registrations of protection for its three-stripe mark, but
declined to quantify how many such trademarks it possessed. She
emphasized that the European court's ruling didn't affect the
brand's ability to use three stripes on Adidas gear, nor did it
affect the company's ability to enforce its existing trademarks.
Ms. Lange didn't immediately address whether Adidas was planning to
appeal.
The court's decision came in response to a challenge by Adidas
against the 2016 annulment of the three-stripe trademark by the
European Union Intellectual Property Office, which was itself
sought by Belgian company Shoe Branding Europe BVBA. In its ruling
Wednesday, the General Court upheld the annulment.
Intellectual property disputes are especially common in the
sportswear industry, and Adidas has fought vigorously to defend its
three-stripe logo in other cases against U.S. rival Skechers USA
Inc. as recently as last year.
The General Court case follows other high-profile trademark
disputes in fashion, including a 2012 victory by French luxury shoe
maker Christian Louboutin SA to exclusively use the color red on
the soles of non-red shoes.
Legal experts said Wednesday's ruling in the Adidas case wasn't
surprising upon review of similar disputes in the European
Union.
"We are seeing the EU IP Office focus much more on ensuring that
trademarks are not improperly registered, and the public can easily
understand their scope," said Shireen Peermohamed, partner on the
intellectual property team of London-based law firm Harbottle &
Lewis.
"If a brand owner cannot demonstrate use of a trademark
throughout the EU, then their trademark could be canceled down the
line, or, as here, never registered in the first place," Ms.
Peermohamed added.
Write to Sara Germano at sara.germano@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 19, 2019 14:07 ET (18:07 GMT)
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