Asics loses case against Skechers
01/05/2007
The US District Court for the Central District of California has found in favour of footwear company Skechers USA, Inc. in a lawsuit filed by Asics Corporation and Asics America Corporation. The court denied Asics' motion for a preliminary injunction against Skechers, finding that there are ”substantial” differences between the two companies’ designs.
Asics sued the company for trademark infringement, unfair competition, trademark dilution and false advertising, claiming that the stripe design on four Skechers’ shoe styles infringed Asics' stripe trademark.
The court report stated, "The designs are quite different and in the marketplace the shoes appear highly dissimilar." The court also found that Asics’ trademark and Skechers’ stripes were not similar enough to infer that Skechers copied its designs from Asics. It also declined to grant Asics injunctive relief on its trade dress infringement claim, which was limited to one of the four Skechers styles in issue, the Skechers Showdowns. The court found that there was no evidence of actual confusion or that Skechers had intentionally copied Asics' design.
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