Have you heard? Louboutin lost its battle against rival Yves Saint Laurent for the exclusivity of the use of red soles.
Louboutin has made the scarlet sole its trademark. If another high end label plays copycat, doesn't Louboutin have the right to protect his idea?
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But "US District Judge Victor Marrero ruled that Louboutin -- even if widely recognized for its trailblazing use of red under the shoe -- could not stop competitors like YSL from doing the same thing." Read the story here.
This is because "Awarding one participant in the designer shoe market a monopoly on the color red would impermissibly hinder competition among other participants."
It may seem unfair for the true creatives but really, nobody owns ideas. It's akin to photography. If you took a photo of an unknown beach, you're the copyright owner of that photo. You own that photo, however, not the idea. If another photographer goes and take photo of the same beach, you can't stop him.
YSL argues that even Louboutin isn't the original of the red sole idea. YSL was quoted saying that the idea for red soles was "copied from King Louis XIV's red-heeled dancing shoes or Dorothy's famous ruby slippers in 'The Wizard of Oz,'"
But Louboutin did not derive the idea of the red soles like what YSL allegedly claimed. In fact, he had a very cool way of deriving the idea, read The True Story Of How Christian Louboutin Shoes Got Those Trademark Red Soles.
So girls, tell me what you think. Should Red Soles be Exclusive for Louboutin? Do you support the federal court's decision?![]()
Louboutin has made the scarlet sole its trademark. If another high end label plays copycat, doesn't Louboutin have the right to protect his idea?
But "US District Judge Victor Marrero ruled that Louboutin -- even if widely recognized for its trailblazing use of red under the shoe -- could not stop competitors like YSL from doing the same thing." Read the story here.
This is because "Awarding one participant in the designer shoe market a monopoly on the color red would impermissibly hinder competition among other participants."
It may seem unfair for the true creatives but really, nobody owns ideas. It's akin to photography. If you took a photo of an unknown beach, you're the copyright owner of that photo. You own that photo, however, not the idea. If another photographer goes and take photo of the same beach, you can't stop him.
YSL argues that even Louboutin isn't the original of the red sole idea. YSL was quoted saying that the idea for red soles was "copied from King Louis XIV's red-heeled dancing shoes or Dorothy's famous ruby slippers in 'The Wizard of Oz,'"
But Louboutin did not derive the idea of the red soles like what YSL allegedly claimed. In fact, he had a very cool way of deriving the idea, read The True Story Of How Christian Louboutin Shoes Got Those Trademark Red Soles.
So girls, tell me what you think. Should Red Soles be Exclusive for Louboutin? Do you support the federal court's decision?
