YSL Vs Louboutin And The Red Soled Heel

YSL vs Louboutin And The Red-Soled Heel

We all know that signature red sole on the bottom of a pair of tall pumps belongs to Christian Louboutin. He has been making his soles red since 1992, selling for about $700 a pair.

Well, YSL has been fighting for quite some time now, for the right to make their monochrome red pumps… well, monochrome.

For a long 18 months, the two brands have been at it until just last Thursday. The beginning of the end was this past September when a NY federal appeals court gave YSL the right to keep selling their all-red heels, the ‘Tribtoo Platform Pumps’ and three others from YSL’s Cruise 2011 Collection: the Tribute, Palais, and Woodstock pumps. The U.S. District Judge in the case, Victor Marrero did however, also give Louboutin the right to continue to protect their 2008 trademark on their red soles but only when they make shoes with a contrasting color on top. This decision lead YSL to cancel its six counterclaims against Louboutin.

Christian Louboutin first sued YSL in April of 2011, demanding $1million in damages. The case was then moved back to a New York federal district court for further evaluation of YSL’s counterclaims.

YSL’s lawyer, David Bernstein gave this brief statement in regards to their counterclaim, Without prejudice means we have the right to re-file claims to cancel the trademark if Louboutin challenges us again with respect to our designs.

Louboutin made a statement about the September ruling saying that this, reaffirm[s] the validity of our trademark rights on the red sole in the U.S. [which] deprived Yves Saint Laurent of its claim for cancellation of our trademark.

Louboutin’s lawyer, Harley Lewin, said, Everyone sees the flash of red and associates the red with Louboutin.

YSL dropped its claims against Louboutin a month later. In court documents filed back in October, YSL said it, has decided that these claims are no longer worth pursuing… thus resolving what remains of this litigation and allowing the parties to close the book on this litigation and refocus their attention on their respective fashion creations.

The Manhattan federal district court entered a final order this past Thursday confirming that Christian Louboutin has no further claims against Yves Saint Laurent over red monochrome shoes and dismissing the lawsuit. Basically that the whole fiasco is over.

Louboutin’s lawyer, Lewin, said the ruling was in order “to protect a life’s work… embodied in the red sole found on his women’s luxury shoes.”

YSL’s final statement: ‘YSL is pleased to now have completely closed this action that had put at risk the ability of fashion designers to trademark color, as well as to now have confirmation from the Court that it is entitled to continue to sell its unique and famous monochromatic red shoes.’

I personally prefer Louboutin over YSL any day and I am not alone, check out the gallery of celebs below in Louboutin!

Happy Strutting!