Walking The Line: Copyright And Design Protection

It's not often an intellectual property decision makes the front page of the BBC website, but no wonder when the decision relates to some of the most well-known sandals around, and ones that were worn by Margot Robbie in the hit 2023 Barbie movie.

Birkenstocks have seen a big growth in popularity over the last decade. With this comes increased competition, with other companies producing their own similarly styled sandals, which to the untrained eye may be easily mistaken for the iconic Birkenstocks.

Birkenstock released their "Madrid" sandal, a style which is still sold today, in 1963. As registered design protection generally lasts for 25 years, any registered design protection that Birkenstock may have had for some of their earliest designs will have long expired.