Adidas has lost a six-year court case against Isabel Marant and Sandro, in which the German brand sought to defend its iconic three-stripe design. The case was finally brought to a close on June 26 by the French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation), which rejected in two distinct rulings the German sportswear brand’s appeals against previous decisions by the Paris Appeals Court, which had found in favour of the two French labels.

Litigation began in July 2018, when Adidas filed against Isabel Marant and Sandro, accusing them of having utilised its highly identifiable parallel lateral stripes in some items from their collections. Adidas’s lawsuit accused Isabel Marant and Sandro of counterfeiting, of undermining its reputation and of unfair competition, mentioning the labels’ use of parallel stripes on tops, trousers and shorts that were commercialised between 2017 and 2018.

Between September and October 2020, the charges brought by Adidas were partially rejected by the Paris court, which did however uphold the reputational damage claim. But the ruling was overturned by the Appeals Court, which in November 2020 dismissed all the charges brought by the German brand.

Adidas then filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, reiterating its accusations against the French labels. Throughout the case, Adidas concentrated on alleged damages against its reputation and on its intellectual property right for the three-stripe trademark. But Adidas’s arguments have eventually failed to convince the court.

In the case of Isabel Marant, as stated by Veil Jourde, the lawyers who advised the label, the judges deemed that “the similarities between the designs in question – ornamental parallel lateral lines – were negligible, and Isabel Marant is sufficiently well-known as a brand for consumers not to be confused between products commercialised on markets that are markedly distinct, such as the sportswear and luxury ready-to-wear markets.”

It wasn’t the first time that Adidas has brought charges against a fashion label to defend its three-stripe design. In the USA, Adidas recently filed against New York luxury label Thom Browne.