Adidas Lawsuit Claims Skechers Ripped Off Its Popular “Stan Smith” Shoe Design

LEFT: Adidas’ Stan Smith RIGHT: Skechers’ Onix

Adidas is suing fellow shoe peddlers Skechers, claiming in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday that Skechers’ “Onix” sneaker rips off the design of its “Stan Smith” shoe.

The Stan Smith design is based on a 1963 shoe worn by tennis star Stan Smith, and features green markings on a white sneaker, with perforations in its signature three lines. The Onix shoe by Skechers is also a white shoe with green markings and perforations, though the holes are punched in a different pattern of five lines.

Business Insider notes that Skechers has to be aware of the similarities between the two shoes, as until today, a search for “Stan Smith” on the Skechers site brought up its Onix shoe. That same search result now results in a dead end.

As of this writing, if you search “Adidas Originals” on the Skechers site, you’ll also see results that include the Onix shoe:

Skechers is staying mum thus far on the pending litigation, but Adidas issued a statement on Tuesday, saying the company “will not stand silently while Skechers copies the iconic Stan Smith shoe and uses terms like ‘adidas Originals’ and ‘Stan Smith’ as keywords on its website to divert customers looking for authentic adidas shoes.”

Adidas said it filed the suit “to protect its valuable intellectual property and put an end to a long-term pattern of unlawful conduct by Skechers to sell shoes that infringe adidas’ rights.”

“We believe Skechers’ unlawful behavior, which also includes misappropriation of adidas’ SUPERNOVA and Three-Stripe trademarks, needs to stop now,” the company said.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist