Adidas loses court row over stripe design with Thom Browne

Adidas has lost a court case against New York fashion designer Thom Browne after suing over a stripe design. The jury said Adidas had failed to show Thom Browne had infringed the sportswear giant's signature three-stripe trademark. The jury also found the fashion house's parallel stripe designs were not likely to cause consumer confusion with Adidas's product. Thom Browne had argued that its designs have a different number of stripes and stripes are a common design element for clothing. The designer's sportswear features four parallel stripes wrapping around the arm or leg of shorts and sweatshirts. Thom Browne previously used a three-bar design on its clothing, changing it to four-stripes after Adidas objected in 2007. Adidas sued the brand in 2021, claiming the stripe patterns on its shoes and activewear violated its three-stripe trademark rights. Adidas had planned to ask the jury for more than $7.8m in damages, plus a cut of Thom Browne's infringing sales.