Louboutin and his Trademark Red Soles

Anyone who knows anything about fashion knows about Christian Louboutin and his famous red soled shoes. Christian is a famous parisien footwear designer who helped bring stilettos back into fashion. His famous red soled bottoms are a trademark Pantone 18-1663 TPX.

There have been several disputes centered around this trademark, the designer successfully battled YSL in a New York court in 2012 and holds a valid Trademark in the US as a result. Though it seems that fashion designers cannot validly trademark colour and YSL was entitled to create its completely red suede shoes with red bottoms.

The Federal Court of Appeals however did rule that Christian Louboutin was entitled to protect itself from copycats. No other shoe brand is permitted to use the contrasting colour of the bottoms if the shoe is not red as it would likely confuse customers into thinking that the shoes were a pair of Louboutins. The red sole is a distinctive and recognisable marker.

For more on Louboutin's recent court battles see this article from The Fashion Law Blog.