Adidas loses battle over its stripes design

ADIDAS has lost a court battle with a fashion designer who it was trying to stop from using a four-stripe design.

The sportswear giant wanted more than £6.4million in damages from Thom Browne, arguing his designs were too similar to its signature three stripes.

But yesterday a jury in New York sided with Mr Browne, ruling there was no infringement of Adidas’s iconic trademark.

The jury found there was a low probability of customers being confused between Adidas products and Mr Browne’s high- end activewear which features four parallel stripes.

The designer argued the number of stripes were different and that stripes are common on clothing.

The German brand sued Mr Browne in June 2021, saying his ‘Four-Bar Signature’, along with other products featuring parallel stripes on activewear, infringed its own well-known trademark.

Adidas said: ‘We are disappointed with the verdict and will continue to vigilantly enforce our intellectual property, including filing any appropriate appeals.’