Last week, Adidas filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Oregon alleging that Skechers copied one of its most popular shoe designs. Adidas also alleges that Skechers did so purposefully.
The Adidas shoe is called the “Stan Smith,” which according to the complaint is a low-top tennis shoe introduced in the early 1970s. Not only is Adidas claiming trademark infringement of it famous three-stripe logo, but also the whole design of the shoe, which falls under “trade dress.”
Adidas issued the following statement after it filed its lawsuit:
adidas filed a lawsuit today against Skechers to protect its valuable intellectual property and put an end to a long-term pattern of unlawful conduct by Skechers to sell shoes that infringe adidas’ rights. adidas will not stand silently while Skechers copies the iconic Stan Smith shoe and uses terms like “adidas Originals” and “Stan Smith” as keywords on its website to divert customers looking for authentic adidas shoes. We believe Skechers’ unlawful behavior, which also includes misappropriation of adidas’ SUPERNOVA and Three-Stripe trademarks, needs to stop now.
The Stan Smith design, shown below, features a “sleek white leather upper, three rows of perforations in the patter of the well-known Three-Stripe mark, a defined stitching across the sides of each shoe enclosing the perforations, a flat tonal white rubber outsole, a raised mustache-shaped colored heel patch in colors such as green, white, blue, and gold, among others.”
Skechers released a shoe, referred to as the Onix, with a similar appearance:
There have been a number of settlement agreements throughout the years between Adidas and Skechers, but apparently Skechers does not really care at this point. The complaint also shows that a search on the Skechers website for “Adidas STAN SMITH” directed users to the Onix shoe, which is meant to show willful infringement in this case.
It doesn’t end there, as the complaint also alleges that Skechers has been offering other shoes in its line infringing its famous Three-Stripe Mark and “Supernova” trademark, like the shoes below:
It should be interesting to see if this will end in another settlement agreement as has been the case in recent years, or if Adidas will look to pursue more legal action in an attempt to stop Skechers from its alleged attempts to confuse consumers.
You can read the full complaint HERE
