After winning a case against Skechers for its shameless Stan Smith rip offs last month, adidas is in the courtroom once again and this time, it's coming for Athletic Propulsion Labs' neck.
adidas has raised a number of complaints against Athletic Propulsion Labs, the brand better known as APL, including trademark infringement, trademark dilution, unfair competition, and deceptive trade practices, as reported by KOIN 6.
In a lawsuit filed earlier this week, adidas alleges that APL is "designing, sourcing, manufacturing, distributing, marketing, promoting, offering for sale, and/or selling" sneakers that feature "confusingly similar imitations of adidas' Three-Stripe mark," a logo that adidas says it's poured millions into over the years.
The offending sneakers include the APL TechLoom Pro runner, which adidas compares to its own Ultra Boost, and the APL Blade basketball shoe, a sneaker adidas says is a bite of the Crazy 8 retro. Each APL sneaker features five stripes that are vaguely reminiscent of the adidas Three Stripes logo. Despite the similarities, it should be noted that APL's TechLoom Pro actually released in the fall of 2014, months before the adidas Ultra Boost.
adidas claims that the similar designs and branding will confuse shoppers and possibly trick them into thinking APL's sneakers are an adidas product. Now, it's asking for APL to stop selling the infringing sneakers altogether, along with compensating the brand for any monetary damages it's incurred along the way.
Stay tuned, it sounds like this one is only beginning to heat up.
