The Red Shoes – Can someone own the exclusive right to use color to distinguish a product?
Categories: IP
Christian Louboutin sells luxurious (and rather high priced) stiletto-heeled shoes with red soles and has gone to considerable effort to protect this feature as a trademark. The Company has obtained registrations protecting its red-soled shoes in the U.S. and in several European countries, and it has brought several lawsuits seeking to prevent others from selling shoes with red soles. However, these efforts generated limited success.
