Loro Piana Wins Legal Battle Over Footwear Designs
Italian luxury brand Loro Piana has scored a victory in its legal bout with MNSWR Group over dupes of its Open Walk and Summer Walk shoes.
The Court of Bari granted an injunction ordering MNSWR Group—which operates Italian menswear brand Viola Milano—to stop manufacturing, selling and marketing footwear that infringed on Loro Piana’s copyrights for its Open Walk and Summer Walk shoes. MNSWR Group also was ordered to discontinue using the brand’s name on its website—Viola Milano used the Loro Piana name on clothing such as tailored jackets on its site.
Loro Piana took umbrage over Viola Milano’s Capri and City loafers, pointing out among other similarities the shoes’ nearly identical white rubber soles. The LVMH-owned brand doesn’t place easily identifiable logos or marks on its products, instead relying on proprietary design elements such as the white rubber soles to differentiate its pieces from other brands.
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As part of its decision, the court ordered MNSWR Group to pay 400 euros for every pair of the infringing shoes sold, imported or marketed. MNSWR Group also must pay Loro Piana 6,700 euros in legal fees. On top of that, the court mandated that MNSWR Group must pay to publish ads featuring the heading and operative part of its order in two Italian newspapers, Corriere della Sera and Il Sole 24 Ore. The court said the ads must be “double the normal font size, with the heading and the names of the parties in bold, and for a period of three months on the homepage of the website http://www.violamilano.com, without using links, and including an English translation.”
“The court’s recognition [of the] protectability of the trademark consisting of the shape of Loro Piana’s iconic Open Walk shoe represents a milestone of fundamental importance in the context of the enforcement program implemented by Loro Piana…against those who try to exploit the iconicity of said footwear, which represents one of the symbolic products of the maison,” said Gabriele Cuonzo of Trevisan & Cuonzo, who represented Loro Piana in the case.
Counterfeiting and trademark infringement continue to be big problems in the fashion sector, both at the high end and for more affordable brands. Over the past year, Burberry, Lacoste, Toms, Adidas and Sketchers are just a few brands that have filed or settled trademark infringement lawsuits.
This judgment comes just months after Loro Piana scored another win after a court in Turin, Italy, ruled another shoe maker infringed on its white rubber sole design. In that case, the Tribunale delle Imprese di Torino ordered a third-party to halt production, sale and marketing of shoes that bore a distinct resemblance to Loro Piana’s Open Walks style.
