Dive Brief:
- Adidas is requesting a new trial in its trademark infringement case against Zegna Group-owned Thom Browne, according to court documents filed last week.
- Attorneys for Adidas argue that Thom Browne withheld emails as evidence in the trial that could be “potentially relevant to the issue of whether Thom Browne was aware that the use of the stripe designs on activewear could create confusion with [A]didas’s Three-Stripe Mark.”
- The original complaint against Thom Browne, filed in 2021, alleged that the brand sold athletic footwear and apparel with designs that were “confusingly similar to Adidas’ products, because they had four parallel stripes. A jury found Thom Browne not liable for these claims in January.
Dive Insight:
A lawyer for Adidas became aware of emails produced in a similar trial between Adidas and Thom Browne in a separate trademark dispute in the U.K., which centered on many of the same products at issue in the U.S. litigation, according to court documents.
The attorney received four email chains with redacted information, and in one sent in 2016, a Thom Browne account manager states, “We try to avoid rows of 4 bar armband on the racks so as to not look like Adidas,” among other emails that reference the German sportswear giant.
“The emails referenced in adidas’s most recent filing were not intentionally withheld and have nothing to do with the issues decided by the jury,” a spokesperson for Thom Browne said in an email to Fashion Dive. “Thom Browne will file a formal response to this motion in due course which will fully lay out why a new trial is not warranted.”
Adidas declined to comment.
The case, filed in the U.S. District Court Southern District of New York, is also being heard in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals as of February, after the jury’s initial decision.
While no hearing date has yet been set in the new trial request, Thom Browne has until Nov. 2 to file its answering papers to the request.
Thom Browne generated 95 million euros, or about $100.6 million, for the second quarter of 2023, making it the second largest segment of Zegna.
Meanwhile, Adidas has faced recent challenges since its Yeezy partnership with rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, including a class-action lawsuit from shareholders. It recently reported revenues of 5.9 billion euros during the third quarter of 2023.
