Skechers USA, Inc. reported it won a “major victory” in a trademark lawsuit filed against itself by Asics Corporation and Asics America Corporation. The U.S. District Court for the Central District of California denied Asics' motion for a preliminary injunction against Skechers, finding there are “substantial” differences between Asics' trademark and Skechers' stripe designs.
Asics initially sued Skechers for trademark infringement, unfair competition, trademark dilution and false advertising, claiming the stripe design on four SKX shoe styles infringed Asics' trademark. After hearing oral arguments, the court denied Asics' motion stating “the designs are quite different and in the marketplace the shoes appear highly dissimilar.”
The court also found the Asics trademark and Skechers stripes were not similar enough to infer that Skechers copied its designs from Asics.
Michael Zell, VP general counsel for Asics America Corp., commented to SEW in an e-mail that “Of course we are disappointed that the judge did not grant our request for a Preliminary Injunction. However as indicated by the Judge at oral hearing, it is a close case on whether the 'drastic' remedy of a Preliminary Injunction should be granted. If this lawsuit continues we hope to prove that Skechers has infringed our legal rights by using the rights we have in our strong Stripe Design trademark, knocking off one of our key fashion shoes and attempting to develop a 'line of' ASICS shoes.”
The Court also declined to grant Asics injunctive relief on its trade dress infringement claim over the Showdowns model.
