Louboutin suing YSL for putting red soles on its shoes

Christian Louboutin Shoes Shoes were strewn all over a New York courtroom yesterday as the Judge heard preliminary evidence in the case of Christian Louboutin vs Yves Saint Laurent. Louboutin's lawyer Harley Lewin of McCarter & English LLP urged the Judge to grant a preliminary injunction, stopping YSL from producing and selling the red-soled shoes it has produced for its pre-spring/summer 2011-12 collection. Lewin asserted that if the injunction was not granted, it would cause "irreparable harm" to the brand, WWD reports, and could encourage third parties to begin mass producing shoes with red soles.

YSL's representative argued that no brand should have the "monopoly on a colour" - and that red soles have been worn through the ages by everyone from King Louis XIV of France to Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, which was greeted by sniggers from the courtroom.
And the judge's final words as he retired to his chambers to consider the footwear evidence he'd seen? "Nice shoes," he smiled.

Earlier in April the lawsuit said: "Mr. Louboutin is the first designer to develop the idea of having red soles on women's shoes," Reuters reports. "The defendants' use of red footwear outsoles that are virtually identical to the plaintiffs' Red Sole Mark is likely to cause and is causing confusion, mistake and deception among the relevant purchasing public."

Louboutin - which trademarked the red sole in the US in 2008 - says that it asked YSL to refrain from using the red colour in January this year, but the company has not yet responded. The shoe company is asking the court to award it $1 million in damages and to order YSL to halt production of all red soled shoes.

The case will resume later today.

From Vogue.co.uk