
Stan Smith With Dress
["662.51"]

On August 3, 2017, the shoe architect Adidas denticulate important accustomed victories in its long-running brand altercation with the shoemaker Skechers. Adidas America, Inc. et al. v. Skechers USA, Inc. (D. Or. 2017) complex brand contravention allegations by Adidas accompanying to its iconic three-stripe logo, the barter dress of its “Stan Smith” shoe architecture and its Supernova chat mark. In a absolute 63-page opinion, Judge Marco A. Hernandez of the District of Oregon denied Skechers’ motion for arbitrary acumen on Adidas’ brand contravention claims and accepted Adidas’ cross-motion for arbitrary acumen on Skechers’ acknowledging defenses of genericness, functionality and fair use.
Adidas commenced the activity in September 2015, alleging that: (1) Skechers’ Onix shoe abandoned Adidas’ Stan Smith barter dress; (2) Skechers’ Cross Cloister shoe abandoned Adidas’ acclaimed three-stripe mark; and (3) Skechers abandoned Adidas’ Supernova chat mark by affairs a shoe additionally called Supernova. In February 2016, Judge Hernandez accepted Adidas’ motion for a basic admonition prohibiting Skechers from affairs its Onix and Cross Cloister shoes and from application the chat “Supernova.”
Adidas’ Stan Smith Barter Dress and Skechers’ Onix Shoe
The cloister acclaimed that Adidas’ “Stan Smith shoe was frequently beat by tennis players in the 1970s and acquired its namesake from Stan Smith, who wore the shoe back he won Wimbledon in 1972.” The Stan Smith shoe has enjoyed ample success, with absolute accepted sales active to 40 actor pairs and announcement expenditures in the tens of millions of dollars. In 2014, Skechers began designing its Onix shoe which, as the pictures beneath illustrate, shares abounding of the aforementioned architecture appearance with the Stan Smith shoe.
["620.8"]A Rule 30(b)(6) attestant testified that the Skechers CEO gave orders to aftermath a knock-off of the Stan Smith shoe, and the aggregation acclimated cipher words to affectation its activities such as “Stan Smi$h.”
In abutment of its motion for arbitrary judgment, Skechers argued that the Stan Smith barter dress: (1) is all-encompassing on the area that it is indefinite, overbroad and so accepted to the industry that it does not analyze a accurate source; and (2) is not characteristic because Adidas cannot authorize accessory meaning.
The cloister alone Skechers’ “divide and conquer” access of analytic alone elements of the Stan Smith barter dress, instead demography a “holistic” access that led to a award that Skechers had bootless to accommodated its accountability that the barter dress was either broad or in accepted use as a accomplished in the industry. Applying the six-factor assay for accessory acceptation set alternating in Adidas-Salomon AG v. Target Corp., 228 F. Supp. 2d 1192, 1207 (D. Or. 2002), the cloister added captivated that, admitting the abridgement of customer assay affirmation proffered by Adidas, the Stan Smith shoe had acquired acumen through accessory meaning, in allotment due to Adidas’ cogent business efforts. The cloister accustomed 9th Circuit antecedent captivation that assay affirmation can accommodate the best actuating affirmation of accessory meaning, but captivated that Adidas had contrarily “produced able amplified evidence” that purchasers associated the Stan Smith barter dress with a distinct source. Further, the affirmation of Skechers’ “meticulous efforts to archetype the Stan Smith shoe” advised in favor of a award of accessory meaning.
["533.5"]
Finally, the cloister accepted Adidas’ motion for arbitrary acumen on Skechers’ functionality defense, afresh abnegation Skechers’ “divide and conquer” approach. The cloister captivated that Skechers bootless to appearance the Stan Smith architecture as a accomplished (and not aloof alone parts) was functional. Interestingly, Adidas additionally took the position that while the Stan Smith shoe architecture ability accept been advised a “performance” tennis shoe back it was aboriginal created in 1972, “times accept afflicted over the advance of blaster years” such that the shoe architecture no best yielded any commonsensical advantage. In added words, alike if the appearance were anatomic at inception, they no best remained so and instead performed a source-identifying function.
The Three-Stripe Mark and the Cross Cloister Shoe
The cloister again angry to Skechers’ motion for arbitrary acumen with account to Adidas’ contravention allegations based on its three-stripe mark. Adidas has acclimated its acclaimed (and actively enforced) three-stripe mark on shoes, storefronts, packaging, and advertisements back at atomic 1952. In the court’s words, “[the three-stripe mark] is broadly accustomed and consumers acerb accessory the [it] with adidas.” Over the accomplished twenty years, Adidas has sued Skechers assorted times for anarchic the mark; anniversary time, the parties accomplished a adjustment in which Skechers agreed to stop affairs the allegedly anarchic footwear. In 2015, Adidas abstruse that Skechers was address a Cross Cloister shoe featuring an “E” shaped architecture that Adidas claimed is confusingly agnate to the three-stripe mark (see allegory photos below).
Skechers Relaxed Fit Cross Cloister TR
["662.51"]
Adidas Ultra Boost with the Three-Stripe Mark
Denying Skechers’ motion for arbitrary acumen on Adidas’ three-stripe mark contravention claims, the cloister assured that at atomic some of the factors in the multi-part likelihood of abashing assay advantaged Adidas, such as the backbone of the three-stripe mark and the relatedness of the products. Adidas did not present any assay affirmation of absolute confusion, and argued that none was all-important to prove a likelihood of confusion. Skechers conducted its own survey, purportedly assuming a low akin of 6.1% post-sale confusion. Adidas attacked Skechers’ assay as awry on several grounds. On this record, the cloister bent that the absolute abashing agency in the likelihood of abashing assay advantaged Skechers, as Adidas did not present its own assay and its criticisms of the Skechers assay did “not abate it of its own accountability beneath this agency of address affirmation of absolute confusion.” Turning to the concoction claim, the cloister additionally assured that back at atomic some of the accordant factors advantaged Adidas, arbitrary acumen was not appropriate.
The Supernova Mark
Adidas has produced, sold, and answer cossack address the Supernova mark back the backward 1990’s. It declared that Skechers abandoned Adidas’ mark by affairs a shoe additionally called Supernova. Skechers asserted a anecdotic fair use acknowledging defense, alienated that it acclimated the Supernova mark to call the shoe’s “cosmic” blush scheme. It additionally argued that the chat alone appeared in baby book on the shoebox UPC sticker labels and in website listings and that its arresting use of source-identifying trademarks minimized the accident that Supernova would be accepted in a brand sense. The cloister accepted Adidas’ motion for arbitrary acumen on the fair use acknowledging defense, captivation that Skechers had acclimated the appellation Supernova as the shoe’s name and accordingly as a trademark. Skechers additionally offered no affirmation assuming that consumers accepted Supernova to call the shoe rather than as the name of the shoe.
["388"]The cloister again addressed assertive remedy-related arbitrary acumen motions, acceding two of Adidas’ motions (one in part), reserving cardinal on another, and abstinent Skechers’ motion.
In sum, Adidas was a bright champ in this accommodation – aloof as it was at the basic admonition date in 2016. As any acclimatized litigator will acquaint you, however, activity is a chase and not a dart – this case is far from over. We at The TMCA will abide to adviser this activity and accumulate you updated.
["662.51"]
["582"]

["679"]
["931.2"]

["776"]
["679"]