Christian Louboutin vs YSL - Yves Saint Laurent

The battle continues in 2012! YSL has hired 11 law professors who teach, research and write about trademark law to defend their side.

Sex and the City. Carry & Charlotte

The professors filed a brief with the Federal Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday saying Louboutin's arguments to protect his use of a single colour - red - in fashion "should be rejected in order to preserve freedom of innovation and competition."

According to WWD , the professors said Louboutin's side argued against the doctrine of "aesthetic functionality" which prevents companies from using "trademark as a kind of back door to perpetual patent-like protection for attractive but non-novel product features.…[If] the relevant consumers want a product feature because it is especially attractive, then that feature is not a proper subject of monopolisation by a single producer - unless it meets the demanding novelty requirement of design patent."

Louboutin/ Red Soles

The legal experts went on: "A woman who buys red shoes is doing so for a reason - red shoes have a particular meaning to her, and to others, that cannot be supplied or even approximated by shoes of a different colour. Given the substantial creativity involved in both fashion design and fashion consumption, courts should not lightly allow one particular competitor to monopolise particular fashion submarket."

YSL / Red Soles

Louboutin and YSL have been embroiled in a legal battle over trademark infringement since last spring. Louboutin has made shoes with scarlet soles since 1992 when the designer saw an assistant painting her nails red.

On April 8th, Louboutin accused YSL of selling shoes with red soles, as part of their resort 2011 collection, that were "virtually identical" to his own, according to a suit filed in federal court in Manhattan. It sought a court injunction against the sale of the shoes and damages 
of at least $1 million.

Louboutin lost the first round in August when a judge ruled:

"Because in the fashion industry colour serves ornamental and aesthetic functions vital to robust competition, the court finds that Louboutin is unlikely to be able to prove that its red outsole brand is entitled to trademark protection, even if it has gained enough public recognition in the market to have acquired secondary meaning."

The case continues.