The Danish Maritime and Commercial Court has found that Steve Madden’s GRAND AVE shoe infringed copyright in GANNI’s Buckle Ballerina shoe.
Danish fashion company GANNI launched the Buckle Ballerina shoe in November 2021. The shoe was created after a long design process, it is a very popular design and has been very commercially successful. The leather shoe features pronounced buckles and straps. Steve Madden’s GRAND AVE shoes were sold in various markets from summer 2023.
Shoe copyright stands up
In its decision, published on 9 August 2024, the Danish Court found that Buckle Ballerina shoe was a copyright work because it was“an expression of the designer’s own intellectual creation”. Specifically, it found the contrast between the delicate, feminine shape of the ballerina and the hardness of the angularity of the outsole and heel with the punk-inspired buckles and rivets of the straps reflected the designer’s version of “coolness”.
The court concluded that the Buckle Ballerina was protected as applied art under the Copyright Act. It also had the distinctive character, commercial distinctiveness and market position such that it was protected under the Danish Marketing Practices Act.
The Court added that the GRAND AVE shoe has “essentially the same design expression” as the Buckle Ballerina and would immediately give the consumer the same overall impression. Common features include the overall shape, the angularity of the heel and sole, and the decoration and proportion of the straps. Individual minor differences have no bearing on the overall impression.
It found that it was “unlikely that the GRAND AVE shoe, which appears to be a very close imitation, was designed without knowledge of the Buckle Ballerina shoe”.
The Steve Madden shoe therefore infringed GANNI’s rights.
The court granted an interim injunction prohibiting Steve Madden form offering, marketing, selling, exporting or importing its GRAND AVE shoe in Denmark and awarded total costs of Dkr375,750 (£42,000) plus interest. Steve Madden had four weeks to appeal the decision.
What does this mean?
The case reinforces how powerful tool copyright can be for the fashion industry following the Court of Justice of the EU decision in Case C-683/17 Cofemel v G-Star Raw, which said that to be original the subject matter of copyright must simply reflect “the personality of its author, as an expression of his free and creative choices”. Cofemel therefore confirmed that applied art, such as fashion, can be protected by copyright.
Further developments in this dispute are awaited with interest!
To find out more about the issues raised in this blog contact Rosie Burbidge, Intellectual Property Partner at Gunnercooke LLP in London - rosie.burbidge@gunnercooke.com