The company was seeking an annulment of a trademark application rejection by the Brazilian Patent and Trademark Office for its use of Pantone 18-1663 TPX red on its high heel shoes, filed in May.
The office decided that the red sole mark was not distinctive on its own, citing the Trademark Manual, which says “the application of a non-distinctive sign on a support will not be registrable as a position mark”.
However, Judge Márcia Maria Nunes de Barros ruled that the trademark office had failed to consider the position of the red sole as an “inseparable part of the mark” and the potential for acquired distinctiveness.
Louboutin has recently filed a trademark suit against a company in the U.S. over the use of a red sole and another in China in 2022.
The case in Brazil is Louboutin v. INPI-Instituto Nacional Da Propriedade Industrial, 5082257-22.2023.4.02.5101/RJ.
Source: The Fashion Law
