Save Our Soles
Updated Tuesday April 12, 09.14am: Christian Louboutin is suing a second footwear company, Carmen Steffens, for replicating his signature red soles. The Brazilian label has fought back against the allegations, commenting that it has been using the colour red on its soles since 1996 - before Louboutin officially trademarked it in the US.
"Carmen Steffens France is confident in its position regarding the brand's long-standing use of colour on the soles of some styles of Carmen Steffens shoes, including the infrequent use of various tones of red," Carmen Steffens' president of US operations, Mark Willingham, toldFootwear News. "Of the 250 styles in Carmen Steffens France's current collection, only three styles utilise red tones on their soles."
Updated Friday April 8, 1.50 pm: Christian Louboutin is suing Yves Saint Laurent for putting red soles on its shoes.
Louboutin filed a trademark infringement lawsuit in New York on Thursday, alleging that YSL has breached its copyright by using the red sole.
"Mr. Louboutin is the first designer to develop the idea of having red soles on women's shoes," the lawsuit said, Reuters reports. "The defendants' use of red footwear outsoles that are virtually identical to the plaintiffs' Red Sole Mark is likely to cause and is causing confusion, mistake and deception among the relevant purchasing public."
Louboutin - which trademarked the red sole in the US in 2008 - says that it asked YSL to refrain from using the red colour in January this year, but the company has not yet responded. The shoe company is asking the court to award it $1 million in damages and to order YSL to halt production of all red soled shoes.
This isn't the first time the footwear legend has become annoyed at other labels using his trademark colour - in 2007, the label sued US brand Oh Deer! after it replicated his famous red sole.
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