As color serves ornamental and aesthetic function vital to innovation and competition in the fashion industry, a fashion designer is unable to show that the single color red he used on the outsole of a shoe brand is entitled to protection as a trademark, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled Aug. 10.
Denying the designer a preliminary injunction barring competitor Yves Saint Laurent from using a similar color red in its shoe designs, the court ruled that the Lanham Act does not serve “as the source of the broad spectrum of absurdities that would follow recognition of a trademark for the use of a single color for fashion items.” The court said that, although single colors may be serve as trademarks for industrial products, in fashion markets color serves not only to identify source, but to advance expressive purposes. ...
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