ADIDAS ECJ CASE
November 1st, 2003
KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has said that Adidas can only prevent rivals using variations of its vertical stripes symbol by proving that consumers associate its mark with those used by other companies. If consumers view rival symbols "purely as an embellishment", Adidas cannot use its trademark rights to suppress them, the ECJ said, intervening in a Netherlands case involving Fitnessworld Trading Ltd. It has been using two vertical stripes, where Adidas uses three. Adidas claimed Fitnessworld was harming "the exclusivity of that mark."
THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice (ECJ) has said that Adidas can only prevent rivals using variations of its vertical stripes symbol by proving that consumers associate its mark with those used by other companies. If consumers view rival symbols "purely as an embellishment", Adidas cannot use its trademark rights to suppress them, the ECJ said, intervening in a Netherlands case involving Fitnessworld Trading Ltd. It has been using two vertical stripes, where Adidas uses three. Adidas claimed Fitnessworld was harming "the exclusivity of that mark."
Full access to this article can be arranged with permission from the client that first ordered it. Please contact us to request access. Entries are uploaded to our archive at least one year after being published by a client – free access is restricted to International News Services journalists for background research only. The article date indicates when copy was filed to a client, not when posted to this archive. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.