Shoe Battle

Fashion shoemaker Christian Louboutin is well-known for their line of red sole women's shoes. In fact, the red sole is trademarked by Louboutin.

Trademarks are important. They have value and are considered to be part of a company's assets. So when fashion house Yves Saint Laurent brought out a line of shoes of various colors, including red, that were the same color all over the shoe, including the sole, Louboutin filed a lawsuit against their competitor. Louboutin claimed that by making a red shoe with a red sole, Yves Saint Laurent was infringing upon Louboutin's trademarked red sole.

A district court in New York gave an opinion that agreed with Louboutin. But on appeal, an appellate court's opinion was that a shoe may have a red sole if the remainder of the shoe, inside and outside, is also red. Louboutin's trademark relied on the fact that the red sole versus a different color on the shoe's "upper" is distinctive and thereby worthy of a trademark. But the appellate court decided that Yves Saint Laurent's line of shoes having the same color all over was also distinctive and trademark-worthy.

Enter Donald Trump, hawking his own brand of sneakers. The sneakers are gold-color and have red soles. Of course. With all the colors of the rainbow available to him, Trump chose red for the soles. 

I see another lawsuit on the horizon.