Thom Browne wins another trademark case against Adidas in London

Business

Legal dispute over stripes: Designs by Thom Browne (l.) and Adidas. Credits: Thom Browne and Adidas.

US men’s fashion brand Thom Browne has celebrated another success in its long-running trademark dispute with the German sporting goods manufacturer Adidas AG.

On Saturday, the label, which belongs to the Italian Ermenegildo Zegna Group, announced that it had won a case at the London High Court. In a ruling published on Friday, the judge in charge dismissed "Adidas' claims for trademark infringement and unfair competition" and found that "several three-stripe trademarks on Adidas clothing items are invalid," the clothing retailer said.

Thom Browne had previously won similar cases in the US and Germany. The dispute is essentially about whether Thom Browne's characteristic four-stripe design infringes Adidas' trademark rights based on three-stripe motifs.

London judge Joanna Smith saw no risk of confusion. The "average, reasonably attentive consumer" would "generally recognise the difference between three and four stripes," she explained in her ruling.

Designer Thom Browne was naturally pleased with the outcome of the case. "Originality and creativity are at the core of my collection. The ruling in the Adidas case in the UK is very important to me because I see it as a triumph for designers around the world," he said in a statement. "I am proud to set a precedent that protects the ability of designers to develop their own signature and tell their own creative stories in a way that reflects their vision."

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.DE. It was translated to English using an AI tool called Genesis and edited by Rachel Douglass..

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