The US sneaker brand Skechers has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the New York-based shoe manufacturer Steve Madden in the US District Court for the Central District of California. Accordingly, Skechers alleges that Steve Madden infringes its well-known ‘S’ logo to sell competing sneakers, thereby allegedly confusing consumers and diluting the distinctiveness of Skechers’ ‘S’ marks.
In detail, it is about the “Kennie” sneaker by Steve Madden, the side of which is adorned with a large ‘S’ which, according to Skechers, looks “confusingly similar” to the logo of the Skechers ‘S’ sneakers and is essentially similar. It’s also a stylized ‘S’ with similar proportions and thicknesses to several of the logos used by Skechers, the company said. In addition, Skechers notes that the Madden logo is placed in the same place where Skechers typically places its trademarks, adding that Madden would also have placed the logo on similar products, targeting the same consumers in the same distribution channels like Skechers. It is therefore very likely that consumers could become confused.
Further litigation with Brooks and Hermès
Just last year, Skechers had filed two lawsuits: Firstly, the company had also filed a lawsuit against the US running brand Brooks for trademark infringement. Skechers claimed that the use of the number ‘5’ on some Brooks running shoes could lead to confusion with the Skechers ‘S’ logo.
A short time later, Skechers sued the French luxury fashion house Hermès International and its US subsidiary Hermès of Paris Inc. in a New York court over the sculptural sole design of the “Éclair” and “Envol” shoe models that Hermès had launched that year. This mimics the distinctive design language of Skechers’ “Massage Fit” technology and infringes several of the company’s patents, the statement said.