He is the stiletto-maker to the stars, beloved as much for his designs as for the air of exclusivity that one of his red-soled creations bestows upon its owner. But now Christian Louboutin is himself seeing red over attempts by rivals from New Look to Miu Miu to allegedly "copy his signature" by finishing off their own shoes with a splash of red paint.
The famed French designer, whose fans range from Angelina Jolie to Princess Caroline of Monaco, has launched an unprecedented crackdown, starting with an attempt to trademark his famous red soles in the US. The fight looks set to spread to the UK, and retailers such as River Island and Asda could be barred from selling Louboutin lookalikes.
The designer's attack was sparked by this summer's outbreak of Louboutin fever that has seen even nail technicians finishing off a manicure with a flash of red under the nail tip. Corporate giants such as BMW have also succumbed: a recent ad featured a woman snapping off the right heel of a red-soled pair of stilettos so she could go for a drive. And in her new book, The Naughty Girl's Guide to Life, Tara Palmer-Tomkinson advises the cash-strapped to opt for a DIY Louboutin with a bottle of red nail varnish.
Louboutin's trademark application has pitched him into a legal battle with New York-based footwear brand oh...DEER! which was launched last year promising that all its styles would "possess the ever-popular red soles". Deer Stags, the brand's parent company, denies infringing the trademark and is trying to block Louboutin's move by filing an opposition with the US Trademark Office.
Louboutin first used the red sole "by accident", applying red nail polish on a whim to "energise" his creation in 1992. "The shiny red colour of the soles has no function other than to identify to the public that the shoes are mine... It attracts men to the women who wear my shoes," he told the US Trademark Office.
Susan Scafidi, a law professor who edits counterfeitchic.com, said Deer Stags' best hope of beating Louboutin would be to claim "aesthetic function" for their own soles in that the red matches other parts of their design.
Publication: The Independent
Article: Shoe maestro Louboutin sees red as rivals 'mimic' signature sole
September 9, 2007
Susie Mesure
URL: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/shoe-maestro-louboutin-sees-red-as-rivals-mimic-signature-sole-401843.html
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