One of the largest sportswear manufacturers in the world, Adidas has initiated a legal battle with Thom Browne, an American luxury fashion house over trademark violation. The former has claimed that Browne’s use of parallel stripes infringes the copyright of its signature three-stripe branding.
According to reports, Adidas filed a lawsuit against Browne, two years ago, in June 2021 citing that the latter’s four-stripe designs are “confusingly similar” to its three-stripe mark and violate the company’s trademark. It argued that “despite Thom Browne’s knowledge of [its] rights in the famous three-stripe mark,” the fashion house “has expanded its product offerings far beyond [its] formal wear and business attire speciality.” It claimed that Browne is now “selling athletic-style apparel and footwear featuring two, three or four parallel stripes in a manner that is confusingly similar to Adidas’ three-stripe mark.”
