Christian Louboutin: Saving The Red Bottom

Last year, shoemaker Christian Louboutin was denied a request for a preliminary injunction for his footwear line. The injunction was to stop other high-profile designers (and smaller brands) from producing shoes with red soles which are considered both a penchant for the designer as well as part of his trademark protection granted in 2008. Why the sudden request for an injunction for the right to protect the red sole? Designer Yves Saint Laurent was featuring four pairs of shoes in the Fall 2011 resort collection with red soles. Which according to the trademark protection filing shouldn’t have been happening.
Before things could get ugly on the runway, Judge Victor Marrero ruled in favor of YSL, citing that Louboutin’s trademark was overly broad and allowing the designer to keep a color solely for his own purpose, particularly in an industry ruled by trends, would cramp the work of other designers.
Louboutin is still digging his heels in for the red though, all the way into the new year.
According to "The Cut", YSL recently just hired 11 law professors that specialize in researching, teaching, and writing about trademark law to join their side in the fight to deny Louboutin the exclusive rights to the color red These 11 professors, as stated by Telegraph UK, filed a brief with the Federal Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejecting Louboutin’s arguments in order to “preserve freedom of innovation and competition” that is represented in the color red. Red goes beyond just being aesthetically pleasing to the eye as the professors brought up, it is a color of meaning and representation that wouldn’t be the same in say, a bright yellow pair of stilettos. “… courts should not lightly allow one particular competitor to monopolize particular fashion submarkets,” the professors stated.
And even though jewelers Tiffany & Co. have lent a supportive hand to Louboutin in a brief statement citing that color should be trademarked (they of the infamous robin’s egg blue packaging), the fight for keeping both the color and the look that made the designer so iconic may result in some serious fashion roadkill in the new year.