The decision said that in March 2012, the Federal Intellectual Property Service refused Christian Louboutin legal protection, since the trademark is color, designed for the sole of women's shoes and does not have a distinctive ability. Rospatent decided that any color or color combination in shoes should be freely used by various manufacturers.
The French company did not agree with the decision of Rospatent and in September filed an objection. The applicant indicated that he did not claim the exclusive right to use red as such in relation to shoes, but he protected the special red color applied to the soles of women's shoes.
In his address, Christian Louboutin noted that there is no direct correlation between sales volume and trademark recognition. For example, Jaguar, Ferrari cars, Louis Vuitton designer products, prestigious watch brands do not have many consumers in Russia, but it cannot be argued that the country's population does not know about them.
As a result, the Chamber of Patent Disputes found compelling reasons for objection. The board of the chamber also noted that the red color on the sole does not perform any other function except for the design element, and fixing the rights to use one manufacturer will not affect the rights of other manufacturers of women's shoes.
Previously, the red sole was recognized as a trademark in the USA, Great Britain, Benelux countries, Australia, France, Norway, Mexico. Based on materials from sostav.ru.
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