A jury in New York has rejected a court case brought by Adidas against designer Thom Browne, which claimed that his use of four stripes was too close to its trademark three-stripe logo.
If successful, Adidas had been asking for $867,225 (£711,244) in potential licensing fees and more than $7m to represent the profit Adidas believes Browne made by using the stripes, reported The Guardian.
The designer’s lawyers suggested that Adidas was an affordable sports brand worn by people all over the world, while Thom Browne is a high-end fashion company with catwalk collections and a celebrity clientele.
The jury said that Adidas had failed to show how the luxury brand’s use of stripes in its clothing infringed on its signature three-stripe design, deciding that Thom Browne’s designs were ‘not likely to cause consumer confusion with Adidas’ products’.
Thom Browne had previously used a three-bar design on a jacket back in 2007, but modified the design to four stripes when Adidas objected.
In a statement, Adidas said it was disappointed but would “continue to vigilantly enforce our intellectual property, including filing any appropriate appeals”.
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