Home Daily News Federal judge tells Skechers to stop selling…

Trials & Litigation

Federal judge tells Skechers to stop selling shoes 'confusingly similar' to Adidas

Image from preliminary injunction.

Saying that he himself couldn’t see a difference between the “Stan Smith” white tennis shoe with a green heel patch manufactured by Adidas and a Skechers look-alike from three feet away, a federal judge in Portland, Oregon, has ordered Skechers to stop selling that shoe and two other styles “confusingly similar” to Adidas offerings.

Skechers says it will appeal the preliminary injunction (PDF) granted last week in the trademark infringement suit, reports the Oregonian.

Although the ruling involves only “only three minor and commercially insignificant Skechers styles that have already been discontinued” and hence is “a non-issue from a commercial standpoint,” the company wants to preserve the right “to use common design elements that have long been in the public domain,” said Skechers president Michael Greenberg in a written statement provided to the newspaper.

Among the features at issue in the case are a “three-stripe” design that has appeared on the side of Adidas shoes since the 1950s that it contends was misappropriated by Skechers.

See also:

ABAJournal.com: “2nd Circuit OKs Trademark Protection for French Designer Christian Louboutin’s Red-Soled Shoes”