Over 5 years ago, Adidas successfully registered its three
stripes as a trade mark in the EU in relation to clothing, footwear
and headgear. Shortly after the mark was registered, a Belgian
footwear company named Shoe Branding Europe successfully applied to
invalidate the mark on the ground that it was devoid of any
distinctive character. Shoe Branding's own logo consists of two
stripes and the parties have a long-running dispute involving
variations of their respective stripe marks.
Adidas appealed the invalidity decision, claiming that its mark
had in fact acquired distinctive character through use. However,
the appeal was dismissed with the Board finding Adidas'
evidence insufficient to prove that its three stripes mark had
acquired distinctive character throughout the EU.
