Legal updates and opinions
Authors
News / News
Red is Louboutin
By Janine Hollesen and Donvay Wegierski, Directors
Luxury shoe designer Christian Louboutin received a favourable ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) recognising its claim to the colour red (pantone 18-1663TP) as a trade mark.
Louboutin successfully sued Dutch shoe retailer van Haren for infringing its signature colour red trade mark applied to high heel shoes in 2013. Van Haren, however, retaliated and applied to invalidate Louboutin’s colour red trade mark on the grounds that it comprised exclusively of a shape (being the shape of the sole of a high heeled shoe) and as a result was not valid as an EU trade mark.
The court ruled that the trade mark granted protects the colour as applied to a specific part of the shoe, rather than a shape which demonstrates the contour of the shoe to which the colour red is applied.
This ruling means that Louboutin now has exclusivity in relation to red soles for shoes – very powerful protection indeed.
If you would like to learn more about Intellectual Property please visit our practice area page.
Latest News
Automatically unfair dismissals versus legitimate dismissals for operational requirements: the importance of the ‘true reasons’ for the dismissal
By: Jacques van Wyk, Director, Andre van Heerden, Senior Associate and, Unathi Jukuda, Candidate Attorney ISSUE Whether, in dismissing employees, the [...]
Corroborative evidence is required to establish intoxication
By: Jacques van Wyk, Director, Andre van Heerden, Senior Associate and, Unathi Jukuda, Candidate Attorney ISSUE Whether an employer can dismiss [...]
The admissibility of evidence related to discussions held during a conciliation hearing
By Jacques van Wyk, Director and Yusha Davidson, Candidate Attorney ISSUE Can the Labour Court receive and rely on evidence [...]
Does a gross failure in procedure expose an employer to the risk of maximum permissible compensation even if there is a justification for the dismissal?
By Jacques van Wyk, Director and Yusha Davidson, Candidate Attorney ISSUE If a retrenchment was unavoidable, can the employer skimp [...]
#metooza – sexual harassment in the workplace in south africa
By Bradley Workman-Davies, Director and Megan Livingstone, Candidate Attorne Recently, and on an ongoing basis, revelations of sexual harassment in [...]
Do restraint of trade agreements survive a transfer of a business as a going concern?
By Jacques van Wyk, Director and Yusha Davidson, Candidate Attorney ISSUE Are restraint of trade agreements transferred in terms of [...]
