European Court of Justice: the "three stripes" of adidas recognised as a Community trademark

The European Court of Justice has ruled in favour of the sports equipment supplier adidas, on 17/02/2016, in its legal conflict with the Belgian company Shoe Branding Europe and the OHIM (Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market). The European Court of Justice also ruled that adidas owned the intellectual property of parallel stripes on its trainers.

Shoe Branding Europe is a subsidiary of the Belgian group Cortina. Based in Oudenaarde (BEL), it operates the Patrick brand, which develops sneakers adorned with two parallel stripes on the side. The company had applied for a Community trademark registration for its two stripes, through the OHIM, on 01/07/2009, with the application accepted on 14/06/2010. adidas appealed against this ruling on 13/09/2010, but was were denied by the OHIM on 22/05/2012.

The Appeal Chamber of the OHIM had found "the differences in the number of stripes and their respective positions on the shoe were sufficient to find that the brands at issue were, overall, dissimilar". adidas then referred the case to the European General Court, which ruled in…