A fight by fancy French footwear king Christian Louboutin for the exclusive right to put red soles on shoes got kicked out of court on Wednesday in a victory for rival Yves Saint Laurent.
The legal battle in a New York court pitted two fashion leaders in a bitter contest for what Louboutin said was the soul of its extravagantly expensive shoes, the signature scarlet outsole.
In a federal court, US district judge Victor Marrero ruled that Louboutin — even if widely recognised for its trailblazing use of red under the shoe — could not stop competitors like YSL from doing the same thing.
“Because in the fashion industry colour serves ornamental and aesthetic functions vital to robust competition, the court finds that Louboutin is unlikely to be able to prove that its red outsole brand is entitled to trademark protection,” said Marrero, who revealed himself as an ardent admirer of the sexy slip-ons. The million-dollar suit for “trademark infringement, unfair competition and false designation of origin” was filed in April in New York claiming that a series of YSL shoes would mislead consumers familiar with Louboutin’s scarlet soles. An attorney for Louboutin said he was “profoundly disappointed.”
“Even though the judge agreed that Louboutin’s red sole mark was famous, he appears to have concluded ‘sua sponte’ that in the fashion industry one ought not be able to use a single colour as a trademark,” Harley Lewin added.