Dive Brief:

• Christian Louboutin has filed a trademark complaint against shoemaker Vinci Leather, Inc., alleging deceptive trade practices, design patent infringement and trademark infringement of its “distinctive shoe designs,” according to a court filing last week.
• The complaint alleges Vinci Leather manufactures and sells knockoffs that infringe on the French luxury company’s trademarked red-sole footwear, its design patents and the Spiked Sneaker Trade Dress associated with its Loubishark line of sneakers.
• The Vinci complaint is the latest in a series of Louboutin filing complaints against shoemakers for violating the red-sole trademark, spurring years of discussions and legal decisions over whether a specific color used on the soles of shoes could warrant trademark protection.

Dive Insight:

The case was filed Friday in the United States District Court Southern District of New York. Louboutin is seeking an injunction from Vinci Leather, as well as damages and attorneys’ fees.

According to the complaint, Vinci manufactured and sold multiple styles of shoes in an attempt to knock off Louboutin, including Louboutin’s red-sole trademark and its Spiked Sneakers Trade Dress, both in the fall of 2022 and April 2023.

The complaint alleges these designs were intended to mislead customers into thinking the two brands are associated.

“Upon information and belief, [Vinci] is capitalizing on the goodwill and cachet associated with [Louboutin’s] luxury footwear to create and sell less expensive imitations designed to give the appearance post-sale of having the prestige and exclusivity associated with the CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN brand,” the complaint reads.

Louboutin sent a letter in October 2022 to Emrah Akkas, the owner of Vinci, asking the company to stop selling shoes with the red sole, which included the Musumusu, Zibo and Efes lines.  While Akkas did not respond, the shoes were removed from Vinci’s website, the complaint states.

However, Louboutin writes in the complaint that it became aware of the Winlux shoe, which the company says also violated its red-sole trademark and sent another letter asking to cease all sales. The shoes were removed briefly from the website, but on Dec. 15, Louboutin says it saw some of the “Infringing Shoes” for sale. 

“Defendant’s Infringing Shoes are also created with the specific intent to create post-sale confusion as to the source of Defendant’s footwear, creating an imitation of CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN shoes that cannot be distinguished post-sale,” the complaint reads.

Vinci did not respond to Fashion Dive’s request for comment ahead of press time.

The red-sole trademark was one of Louboutin’s most high-profile suits against Yves Saint Laurent in 2011, also filed in the Southern District of New York, which ultimately was dismissed after a lower court rejected Louboutin’s request to stop the sale of similar shoes and denied a request for $1 million in damages.

In a Louboutin complaint against Zara in 2012, a French court of appeals found that Louboutin’s trademark registration was too vague and lacked an exact color match, according to a report from the Fashion Law.

More recently, a 2022 case in Japan denied Louboutin’s infringement claims against Eizo Co. Ltd, stating that the color red was a common aesthetic enhancement and heels with such soles had been distributed before Louboutin’s entrance in the market, according to a report from Fashion United.