Adidas and Thom Browne continue trademark battle in UK court

In continuation of a long-winded dispute over trademarks, Adidas and Thom Browne have now taken to the UK’s High Court to once again battle it out over the use of stripes. Back in 2021, US designer Thom Browne had sued Adidas in London in a bid to cancel out several trademarks that featured the sportswear label's three-stripe motif.

According to Reuters, which has seen the court filings, Browne argued that Adidas was trying to establish a monopoly on the use of stripes in clothes.

However, from the perspective of Adidas, the designer has allegedly infringed on its trademarks by selling products with four stripes – notably, Browne had increased the number of stripes used in his designs in 2007 after Adidas complained about his prior three-stripe designs.

In court filings, Browne’s lawyer Philip Roberts said that “the breadth of Adidas’ asserted monopoly threatens the basic freedom of fashion designers to design clothing in the manner they wish”.

Meanwhile, Adidas’ lawyer Charlotte May said that Browne intended to “continue their encroachment into sportswear and sports marketing” after its 2020 launch into the category struck “at the heart of the Adidas business”.

The duo have already gone head-to-head in other regions over the matter, including with the European Intellectual Property Office and in the US, where last year a jury rejected Adidas’ lawsuit.