ASICS Corporation and its U.S. subsidiary sued Steven Madden for infringing on its stripe design trademark in U.S. District Court in California last week in violation of a confidential agreement reached in 2006.


The suit alleges that Steven Madden’s Stryker, Sweeper, Swifft and Kwickk shoes bear marks confusingly similar to the ASICS stripe design that ASICS has spent millions promoting since 1966.


ASICS said the shoes violate the terms of a confidential settlement it reached with Steven Madden in 2006. Shortly after reaching that agreement, ASICS sued Mossimo Inc. and Target Corp. for trademark infringement for selling Gareth Shoes, which ASICS alleges were supplied by Steven Madden.

 

The parties reached a confidential settlement in that case as well.
Since then, ASICS alleges that the Stryker, Sweeper, Swiftt and Kwickk shoes have been sold online by multiple e-tailers, including steven-madden.com, usashoeshop.com, amazon.com, zappos.com, buckle.com and shoedeals4u.com.


“Defendants have acted willfully, in bad faith and with the intent to confuse and mislead the public and unfairly trade on the substantial and valuable goodwill encompassed in ASICS Stripe Design mark to capitalize on ASICS’s highly respected reputation as a high-quality footwear company,” the lawsuit states.


The suit alleges breach of contract, trademark infringement, unfair competition, trademark dilution and false advertising. It seeks injunctive relief to prevent Steven Madden from violating the 2006 agreement and asks that Steven Madden pay ASICS all unlawful profits and punitive damages and reimburse ASICS legal costs. It also asks that Steven Madden turn over all infringing materials for destruction.


On Friday, none of the shoes cited in the lawsuit could be found on Steven Madden’s website. However a search of federal lawsuits did find that the U.S. Olympic Committee sued ASICS in early May for infringing on its trademarks by using the word Olympics and images of Olympic athletes on its web site and in advertising.