A week ago, over at The Fashion Law, an Independent Source for Law, Business and Culture, an enjoyable trip down memory lane was published about the history of trademark protection regarding Louboutin’s red-colored sole mark.
What I hadn’t seen before now is Christian Louboutin’s quote “then it popped”:
“The concept shoe, with its
A recent Mall of America and Nordstrom shopping trip (with visiting extended family), coupled with some initial moments of admitted boredom, led me to wandering through the shoe department:
Let’s just say, the stroll through the shoe department made it all worthwhile, to capture the above image, showing Louboutin’s latest fashion sense, leading to my
#TheDress phenomenon is about to shape the future of color trademarks and trade dress rights.
You may recall, we have written a great deal on the subject of non-traditional trademark protection of colors, especially during the Christian Louboutin red-soled shoe trademark lessons, but more recently we wrote about the legal implications of color selections
Unless you have created a highly stylized, distinctive, graphic representation of a generic designation, perhaps something like the Miller Lite script, don’t bother trying to own or enforce it:
Most likely, you’ll end up regretting the decision to enforce, when the court of public opinion weighs in, after the social media shame-wagon flogs
Over the past five years, we have spilled a lot of black digital ink discussing trademark ownership of single colors. Color continues to be an important aspect of branding and differentiation in a variety of markets, including many you’d expect, and some you might not.
Christian Louboutin’s red color trademark helps to illustrate the
As promised, here are some further thoughts, lessons learned, and remaining unanswered questions concerning the recent and long-anticipated decision of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Christian Louboutin S.A. v. Yves Saint Laurent Am. Holding, Inc.
Lessons Learned for Marketing Types:
–Catlan McCurdy, Attorney
The most publicized trademark lawsuit in 2012 has now come to a close, and while Louboutin was denied its motion for a preliminary injunction, the company should be happy it didn’t lose everything.
As you might recall, the District Court initially denied Louboutin’s
At long last, here is a pdf link to the decision, and here is the Second Circuit Court of Appeals summary in a nutshell:
“We conclude that the District Court’s holding that a single color can never serve as a trademark in the fashion industry, Christian Louboutin S.A. v. Yves Saint Laurent Am., Inc., 778
The current series of advertising billboards from Allianz — an international financial services company, with its parent company headquartered in Munich, Germany — are really wonderful, and their creativity inspired this post about brand name pronunciation. Here is one billboard example I recently captured in Minneapolis with my iPad, to the left.
How we pronounce
–Catlan McCurdy, Attorney
Over at DuetsBlog, we have been anxiously awaiting the Second Circuit’s decision in Christian Louboutin v. Yves Saint Laurent. It was predicted that a decision would be made by early Spring