It is obvious to anyone with experience in logo rules that the renowned three-stripe mark from Adidas is protected by law. However, the main concern in the copyright case against Aviator Nation and its leader, Paige Mycoskie is whether the protection applies to four- and five-stripe scars and other variations.
In an Oregon federal district court, Adidas filed a modified objection against Aviator Nation and Mycoskie last Friday. Stephen M. Feldman and other prosecutors from Perkins Coie and Kilpatrick Townsend &, Stockton, wrote the problem. Adidas and Aviator Nation have litigated for decades and in this new processing, Adidas argues Aviator Nation has infringed on its copyrights by selling” sweaters, pants, sweatshirts, pants, and related clothes featuring parallel-stripe designs that are confusingly related” to Adidas’s three-stripe level.
A” 1970s California attitude company,” according to Aviator Nation. The organization was “born” in Mycoskie’s garage in Venice Beach, Calif., in 2006 and has grown into a “global life company” with 19 retail locations in California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Nevada, New York, Tennessee and Texas. Many bands of different colors are a regular feature in Aviator Nation’s clothing.
According to Adidas ‘ problem, the two firms signed settlement contracts in 2012, 2013 and 2022. According to Adidas, Aviator Nation consented to stop selling specific types of clothing that supposedly violated the three-stripe logo.
Adidas claims that Aviator Nation still “infringes in ways that highlight three of the stripes,” despite the fact that the company’s clothing “features more stripes.” According to Adidas, consumers may be misled by the stripes and believe that Aviator Nation’s clothing is related to Adidas.
The complaint includes the following artwork to accuse Aviator Nation of selling reportedly vowed items that the business would not sell:
Additionally, the lawsuit agreements have security provisions. By appearing on Guy Raz’s National Public Radio radio” How I Built This” in January 2024, Mycoskie is alleged to have “directly violated” a security clause. According to the company, Mycoskie “publicly disclosed and misrepresented the parties ‘ due disagreements and significant provisions of the 2022 Deal” during the interview.
Adidas asserts that during the podcast, Mycoskie committed violation by making the following speech:
There were a few items in 2012 that had three colors on them. I generally said,’ Okay,’ I said,’ I’ll quit doing three red garments, but I’m going to maintain doing the four stripe.’ And so I stopped doing three bands and they generally vanished for a while. ]Several years later ] they came back]and ] said,’ OK, now we think your four stripes are confusingly similar.’ And I was like,’ No men, we made this contract.’ And therefore anyway, in 2016, you know I had a little bit more cash. I believe that at that time, I really had coverage for brand security. And so this continued for a long time, and we did get through counseling and all of this thing. And then they essentially gave up on it at the finish. We just made up our minds that I haven’t would three colors, and that one of the bands blended into the history of the garment, making it clear that I would not do anything with four colors that would be confusing.
In court records, Aviator Nation has refuted Adidas ‘ claims of copyright and other wrong.
For instance, in 2020, Aviator Nation said its “uses of line styles… are never identical or substantially similar to Adidas ‘ 3-stripe”. Aviator Nation, which did not respond to a request for comment, has even insisted it is “implausible” that its designs, which feature a different variety of stripes and various colors,” could be deemed similar or significantly indistinguishable” from Adidas ‘ three-stripe mark.
In a sworn declaration in 2020, Mycoskie noted that her company’s five-stripes “emulate stripes from the American flag”. She added that a sample of clothing that appeared to have three stripes on the front of the garment “inadvertently had three stripes on the sleeve” and that the clothing design version that was sold “had a fourth stripe on the sleeve and on the front as well.”
In the upcoming weeks, the attorneys for Aviator Nation will respond to Adidas ‘ complaint and refute any allegations of wrongdoing. Given that Adidas and Aviator Nation have already reached a number of settlement agreements, it makes sense that they will find a non-court settlement of this most recent dispute.