Christian Louboutin's red soles are a distinctive trademark.

According to a recent ruling by the Court of Justice, the red color of the soles of Christian Louboutin shoes is a distinctive trademark rather than merely a design feature, and as such constitutes a valid trademark right.

This is the ruling issued by the Court of Justice of the European Union after the designer sued the Dutch company Van Haren for selling women’s high-heeled shoes with red soles.

The Dutch company, which operates in the footwear retail sector, had launched a line of women’s high-heeled shoes with red soles in 2012—the “5th Avenue by Halle Berry” model—and was sued by Louboutin for trademark infringement. Van Haren defended itself by arguing that the Louboutin trademark was “void,” citing the fact that “the EU Trademark Directive lists several grounds for invalidity or refusal of registration, notably with regard to signs consisting exclusively of the shape that gives substantial value to the product.”

Judgment C-163/16, on the other hand, establishes that the “protection” of the red sole as a Louboutin trademark “does not concern a specific shape of a high-heeled shoe sole (which would not be protected in Europe, ed.), since the description of said trademark expressly indicates that the outline of the shoe is not part of the trademark, but serves solely to highlight the position of the red color to which the registration refers.” The Court also added that a sign cannot be considered to consist “exclusively of the shape where the main object of this sign is a color specified by an internationally recognized identification code.”

The fashion house expressed satisfaction, calling it a "victory for Maison Christian Louboutin," as "the protection of Christian Louboutin's red sole trademark has been upheld by the European Court of Justice." According to the company, today’s ruling in Luxembourg “confirmed that the legal regime governing shape trademarks does not apply to Christian Louboutin’s ‘red sole’ trademark,” which is, on the contrary, “a position trademark, as the Maison has maintained for many years.”