Three stripes

Three stripes is a trademark of Adidas consisting of three parallel lines, which typically feature along the side of Adidas apparel. Adidas was known for this branding early in its history, with its owner, Adolf Dassler, describing it as "The three stripe company".[2]

History

Finnish Sport Museum has a pair of footwear from the 1940s with the three stripes by Finnish athletic footwear brand Karhu Sports.[3] According to another source, the three stripes mark was created by the Adidas company founder, Adolf Dassler, and first used on footwear in 1949, when Adidas was founded.[1] In 1952, following the 1952 Summer Olympics in Finland, Adidas acquired its signature three stripe branding from Karhu Sports, for two bottles of whiskey and the equivalent of €1,600.[4]

Trademark disputes

Adidas has sued or threatened to sue retailers to protect the brand,[16][17] including the following cases:

Adidas has also settled with Steven Madden Ltd., Target Corp. and Nordstrom Inc. before going to trial.[17]

1983: Adidas v Charles O'Neill and Co Ltd 1983 ILRM 112[18]

1995: settled a dispute with Walmart[16]

2000: Marca Mode v Adidas decided at the European Court of Justice (Case C-425/98)[18][19]

2002: settled with Walmart[16]

2003: filed a lawsuit in a British court challenging Fitness World Trading's use of a two-stripe motif similar to Adidas' three stripes[20][21][19]

2004 (August): Polo Ralph Lauren[22]

2005: Abercrombie & Fitch, in Portland[22]

2005 (March): Dutch Court of Appeal decided that Adidas had not sufficiently demonstrated that the Marca two-stripe design did not infringe, based on the Benelux Trademarks Act.[23] (see Benelux Office for Intellectual Property)

2007 (February): Dutch Supreme Court ruled in the case Adidas/Marca Mode II that the two stripe of Marca et al. did not infringe the three stripe trade mark of Adidas.[24]

2008 (April): European Court of Justice decided in favour of Adidas, against Marca Mode, C&A, H&M Hennes & Mauritz and Vendex KBB, that two-stripes could infringe on the Adidas three-stripe trademark.[25][26]

2008 (May): Kmart[17]

2008: Payless ShoeSource, ordered to pay $304.6 million; later reduced to $64.4 million. No. 01-CV-01655-RE.[17][27]

2008 (October): Wal-Mart Stores Inc., third confidential settlement[16][17][28]

2009: Aldo Group Inc., filed 14 January in federal court in Portland, claiming a breach of out-of-court settlements between the companies in 2004 and 2006. Adidas America Inc. v. Aldo Group Inc., 3:09- cv-00056[17]

2014: Adidas successfully registers the three-stripe design at the European Union level.[29]

2016: The EU's Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) annuls the 2014 registration on the grounds that it was not distinctive enough.[29]

2019: EU General Court upholds the 2016 decision of the EUIPO stating that it did not have enough "distinctive character" to qualify for the trademark.[29]

producttype	Corporate identity
currentowner	Adidas
country	Germany
introduced	1949‡R1R‡
markets	Worldwide

History

Branding in sports

In popular culture

Trademark disputes

Further reading

External links

References