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Converse sues firms over trademark shoe | Converse sues firms over trademark shoe |
(about 4 hours later) | |
US shoemaker Converse is suing 31 companies, arguing they are copying the design of its trademark shoe. | |
The company filed lawsuits against big retailers such as Wal-Mart and Ralph Lauren for allegedly selling imitations of its famous Chuck Taylor sneaker. | |
The lawsuits filed in New York include companies based in Canada, Australia, Italy, China and Japan. | The lawsuits filed in New York include companies based in Canada, Australia, Italy, China and Japan. |
The Nike subsidiary also wants the International Trade Commission to ban imports and sales of the shoes. | |
Converse chief executive Jim Calhoun said the company welcomed fair competition, but "we do not believe companies have a right to copy the Chuck's trademarked look". | |
Rise of the sneaker | Rise of the sneaker |
The popularity of Converse's Chuck Taylor sneaker has skyrocketed over the decades since it was introduced on US basketball courts in 1917. | The popularity of Converse's Chuck Taylor sneaker has skyrocketed over the decades since it was introduced on US basketball courts in 1917. |
Converse says it has sold one billion pairs of the shoe around the world and spent hundred of millions of dollars advertising it. | |
The shoemaker also says it has served about 180 cease and desist letters to retailers selling look-a-like Chuck Taylor sneakers in the past six years to protect its brand. | |
Prof Polk Wagner, from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, told the BBC that "it is notoriously difficult to win a trademark case in the fashion context". | |
"It's certainly not a slam-dunk on the part of the plaintiffs," he said. | |
However, Prof Wagner pointed to a case two years ago when the luxury shoemaker Louboutin successfully trademarked its distinctive red soles. | |
"Trademark law is all about whether the ordinary consumer would be confused as to the source of the good when they look at it. | |
"In order for Converse to win they would have to show that the ordinary consumer of their goods... would associate the design-oriented features of that shoe with the manufacturer of that shoe." |