April 2018. Adidas continues to slug it out for its three-stripe logo. On 1 March, the sports clothing giant scored a satisfying victory when the European General Court ruled that Belgian rival Shoe Branding Europe could not register a two-stripe trademark (adidas has three) for its shoes.

Unfair benefit

The Court concluded that adidas’ three-stripe trademark was universally recognised and there would consequently be a risk of consumers assuming the two brands were linked. Shoe Branding would thus unfairly benefit from the reputation of adidas’ three-band trademark.

Adidas’ registered trademark (left) and Shoe Branding’s unsuccessful one

eLeague

That’s not the only stripe-based dispute adidas is involved in. It recently also filed an opposition in the US against eSports, whose video game competition ELEAGUE sports a three-stripe logo. Whether adidas will pull off a victory there is as yet unclear.