{"id":159742,"date":"2018-02-08T16:50:58","date_gmt":"2018-02-08T16:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/christian-louboutin-and-the-case-of-the-red-soles-leading-lawyers-give-their-verdict\/"},"modified":"2021-08-12T13:52:06","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T13:52:06","slug":"christian-louboutin-and-the-case-of-the-red-soles-leading-lawyers-give-their-verdict","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/christian-louboutin-and-the-case-of-the-red-soles-leading-lawyers-give-their-verdict\/","title":{"rendered":"Christian Louboutin and the case of the red soles. Leading lawyers give their verdict"},"content":{"rendered":"
It has been widely reported this week that luxury shoe designer Christian Louboutin \"lost\" a court case<\/strong> to prevent other shoe brands from copying his signature (and trademark protected) red soles, after Dutch footwear retailer VanHaren produced a similar and the matter ended up at the European Court of Justice.<\/p>\n The judgement delivered by the advocate general in the case seemed to suggest that the red soles were not protectable by trademark<\/strong>, but Christian Louboutin has argued that what he said in fact strengthened the case for his brand's trade mark. And, say\u00a0leading lawyers approached by The Industry\u00a0<\/em>for comment, the case isn't over yet.<\/p>\n It still needs to be ratified by the European Court \u2013 and just because the red sole may or may not be protectable by trademark (shapes and colours being a notoriously difficult legal ground), there are still laws that would-be copy cats could fall foul of, so before other brands think it's open\u00a0season on the red sole, <\/strong>they might want to read what our legal experts have to say.<\/p>\n In a statement today Christian Louboutin said that the judgement delivered by the\u00a0European Court of Justice\u2019s advocate general, Maciej Szpunar, merely strengthened his brand's trademark protection, rather than threatened it.<\/p>\n