YSL and Louboutin both see red
Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Louboutin are seeing red.
It's a battle of epic shoe proportions, or color in this case. The Christian Louboutin / Yves Saint Laurent red sole patent dispute continues.
This past spring, YSL released its Palais 105 platform pumps in a red suede color, which not only encompassed the shoe and heel, but also the sole. The result? In April, Christian Louboutin S.A. filed a $1 million trademark infringement suit against Yves Saint Laurent seeking damages.
According to court documents, Louboutin's legal team made the following argument: "The defendants use of red footwear outsoles that are virtually identical to plaintiff's Red Sole Mark is likely to cause and is causing confusion, mistake and deception among the relevant purchasing public as to the origin of the infringing footwear."
On Tuesday, Yves Saint Laurent Inc.'s legal team responded to Louboutin's suit, issuing a two-part response. YSL attorney David Bernstein stated, "We just don't think that any fashion designer should be able to monopolize any color."
Harley Lewin, attorney for Christian Louboutin, then responded to YSL's statement with, "There's a particular red that Christian uses on his shoes, a bright, lacquered red... we don't own any other red but that red."
Bernstein said, "Louboutin's trademark should have never been granted." Which leads us to wonder, is it fair for Louboutin to have received a trademark for that color?
A preliminary hearing will take place next Friday.
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