Adidas have lost their trade mark infringement case against Thom Browne in the German Nuremberg-Fürth Regional Court. The dispute centred around Adidas’ signature three stripe logo and Thom Browne’s use of a four stripe logo in some of its designs.
Trade mark infringement claims have been brought against Thom Browne in the US, Germany and the UK over Thom Browne’s four stripe logo and Adidas’ three stripe logo. Adidas owns registered trade marks for the famous three stripe logo globally. Whereas Thom Browne currently does not own any trade marks in their four stripe logo. They had attempted to register trade marks for some of their designs in November 2017 within the EU and UK. However, Adidas filed oppositions to the applications in February 2018 and Thom Browne subsequently withdrew its applications. Thom Browne attempted to register further designs featuring the stripes in January 2024 within the EU in class 25, which are currently in the examination stage.
The court decided that the four stripe design does not infringe the three stripe design and that Adidas could not prove that a likelihood of confusion would arise as a result of Thom Browne’s horizontal four stripe design. The judgment stated that there were significant differences in the logos, including the number of stripes and the width. Specific reference was made to consumers of the luxury market, who are unlikely to be confused by the two logos. Further, the court ruled against Adidas’ claim of unfair competition.
However, the judgment is still open to appeal, so there may be a change in the outcome.
Adidas have already lost to Thom Browne in the US and proceedings against Thom Browne have been brought in the UK, which have not yet been finalised despite them starting in 2021.
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