Nike and Adidas Clothes Fashion Nova Jeans

Adidas is upping the ante in an existing battle against Mode Nova with a new lawsuit. On the heels of filing a trademark infringement and dilution complaint against the Southern California-based fast style giant dorsum in May 2019 for allegedly infringing its famed iii-stripe trademark past way of an array of garments, a case that is nonetheless underway in federal court in Oregon, adidas has lodged a new complaint against Mode Nova. This fourth dimension adidas is accusing Fashion Nova of trade dress infringement, unfair competition, and unfair and deceptive trade practices in the aforementioned court in connection with its auction of a sneaker that allegedly co-opts the design of its Stan Smith, which adidas claims is "i of the most iconic shoes in history."

In the complaint that it filed on March 2, adidas alleges that "recently – and in the heart of a related trademark lawsuit over Mode Nova's infringement of the three-stripe mark – Fashion Nova intentionally knocked off the Stan Smith trade dress." According to adidas, the Stan Smith trade clothes consists of a combination of "nonfunctional" and source-identifying elements, namely, "a classic lawn tennis-shoe profile with a white leather upper, 3 rows of perforations (in the blueprint of the famous three-stripe mark), a divers stitching across the sides of the shoe enclosing the perforations, a raised mustache-shaped colored heel patch (which often is green), and a apartment tonal white rubber outsole."

Despite having "a multitude of alternative sneaker designs they could use," competitors "mimic elements of the iconic Stan Smith trade dress [in an] to endeavour to trade off its tremendous goodwill and siphon away sales from adidas," the sportswear titan claims. And that is precisely what has happened here, per adidas, which contends that Fashion Nova has "committed some other egregious infringement" by offering upwards a sneaker that "imitates every element of the Stan Smith trade dress" (and seemingly, some of the elements of Alexander McQueen's Oversized Sneaker) and that "has an overall advent that is confusingly like to the Stan Smith merchandise dress."

Adidas asserts that Mode Nova was "aware that the auction of the Stan Smith knock-off would likely cause confusion among consumers and would dilute adidas's rights in the Stan Smith trade dress," and opted to sell the sneaker anyway, thereby, showing "a callous condone for adidas'due south rights." (It is worth noting that while adidas does not make a trademark dilution claim in its complaint, it is seeking, among other things, to enjoin the fast fashion company from "using any trademark, trade dress, name, logo, design, or source designation of any kind on or in connection with [its] goods that dilutes or is likely to dilute the distinctiveness of adidas'south trademarks, trade dresses, names, or logos.")

Setting out claims of merchandise wearing apparel infringement, unfair competition, unfair and deceptive trade practices, adidas argues that it is likely to prevail in its claims, equally the same court previously sided with it in a trademark affair centering on the Stan Smith trade dress. In this vein, Adidas cites a determination from the U.Southward. District Courtroom for the District of Oregon in a instance that it previously filed confronting Skechers, which held that adidas was "likely to succeed in establishing its right to enforce . . . the unregistered Stan Smith trade dress [and] besides likely to succeed in showing that the Skechers shoes infringe adidas's marks and trade dress." The aforementioned is truthful here, adidas argues, asserting that "any reasonable observer could see the striking similarities betwixt the Stan Smith trade wearing apparel and Fashion Nova'south knock-off. Indeed, in many means the Fashion Nova knock-off is even closer to the Stan Smith trade dress than the version Skechers sold six years agone."

In improver to citing pointing to potential confusion in connection with its infringement claim, in making a claim of unfair and deceptive trade practices, adidas too asserts that Style Nova "has been and is passing off its appurtenances as those of adidas," and that such allegedly unauthorized utilize of "confusingly similar imitations of the Stan Smith trade dress has caused and is likely to cause substantial injury to the public and to adidas."

With this in heed, adidas is seeking injunctive relief to permanently bar Fashion Nova from "marketing or selling footwear using or bearing confusingly like imitations of the Stan Smith merchandise dress," monetary damages, and an order requiring Fashion Nova to disgorge all of its profits from its sales of the declared Stan Smith knock-off.

Style Nova declined to comment on the new lawsuit.

The case is Adidas America, Inc v. Fashion Nova, Inc., three:22-cv-00344 (D. Or.).