As I was a very young girl still holding my father’s hand while walking in the streets of Paris, it happened that my father and I passed by Christian Louboutin’s little shop on rue de Grenelle. My father, eager to find tangible evidence that his daughter was a genius, tried to test my observation skills in asking one simple question: “Caroline, what do you see in this shop that is common to every single shoe on display?”

For those of you who do not know about Christian Louboutin and dread the same insidious question, the answer is: shoes by designer Christian Louboutin all have red soles. For those of you who, like my father, are appalled by my lack of observation skills as a child, I will simply point out that fashion experts can also easily overlook Louboutin’s trademark.

Fashion blogs and newspapers have relayed information that Yves St. Laurent is infringing on Louboutin’s trademark in selling shoes that have a similarly red sole. The Manhattan District Court will have to decide whether the new “Palais,” cute little pumps by Yves St. Laurent, are infringing material.  Louboutin filed a complaint in which the designer is asking for $1 million in damages.

Louboutin argues that painting soles in rouge laqué has been his trademark since 1992 and has become a distinctive sign of Louboutin products. Further, Louboutin’s complaint states, “Defendants’ use of red footwear outsoles that are virtually identical to plaintiffs’ Red Sole Mark is likely to cause and is causing confusion, mistake and deception among the relevant purchasing public.”

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded Louboutin a trademark on red-sole shoes in 2008. Still, Louboutin will have to prove that the likelihood of confusion criterion is met. The similarity between the overall impressions of the two brands may be argued, as well as the similarity between the goods themselves. Both designers have a long-standing reputation of being top fashion designers. Yves St. Laurent is iconic for sure, and Louboutin’s shoes are hallowed by a substantial part of fashion lovers. The marketing channels for those shoes, as well as the physical proximity of the retail marketplaces (Yves St. Laurent’s litigious pumps are available at Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys New York and Bergdorf Goodman) will both be important points of contention. However, I personally think that the specific intent of Yves St. Laurent to adopt the red-sole pattern and invade Louboutin’s market is not established in view of the already most commanding reputation of Yves St. Laurent in the world Haute-Couture.

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