A judge at the London high court has ruled that luxury brand Thom Browne did not infringe Adidas’s trademarks by printing four stripes on its clothing. The decision is in line with a 2023 U.S. court ruling which also found that Them Browne’s use of four stripes did not infringe upon the Adidas three stripe trademark.

Browne has been using the four stripes since stripes 2007, when Adidas said a jacket which the company produced that had three stripes, was too close to its trademarked design. The designer modified his work in response.  For Adidas, however, this addition of a forth stripe wasn’t good enough. Adidas lawyers stated that the “tipping point” came in 2020, when Thom Browne launched a range of sportswear that “strikes at the heart” of its business.

Adidas has been using its three-stripe logo since the 1950s, and has not been shy in protecting its trademark. The company has filed more than 90 lawsuits and reached more than 200 settlements related to the trademark since 2008, including against Marc Jacobs and Juicy Couture.

In her ruling, Mrs Justice Joanna Smith said that a consumer “paying a moderate degree of attention will generally perceive the difference between three stripes and four”.

Adidas said it would “carefully review the findings and determine our next steps”