The Second Circuit’s decision in Christian Louboutin S.A. v. Yves St. Laurent Am. Holdings, Inc. gives a partial win to both Christian Louboutin and Yves St. Laurent:
We [] conclude that Louboutin’s trademark, consisting of a red, lacquered outsole on a high fashion woman’s shoe, has acquired limited “secondary meaning” as a distinctive symbol that identifies [...]
The Ninth Circuit joins the Second Circuit in holding that trademark dilution does not require “the junior mark [to be] identical, nearly identical or substantially similar to the senior mark”:
[T]he plain language of 15 U.S.C. § 1125(c) does not require that a plaintiff establish that the junior mark is identical, nearly identical or substantially similar [...]
At bottom, this case concerns whether various trademarks related to the Washington Redskins football team disparage Native Americans within the meaning of the Lanham Trademark Act, § 2, 15 U.S.C. § 1052(a). But that question has since been overshadowed by the defense of laches, the basis on which the district court first entered judgment [...]