jacobcarter.co.uk

Killer heels have gone on trial in New York, as Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Louboutin went head-to-head over the rights of the trademarked red sole.

In April, Louboutin filed a lawsuit claiming that shoes created by YSL for Resort '11 infringed on the red-sole legal trademark that Louboutin established in 2008.

YSL’s attorney David Bernstein argued that the fashion house has used red as a signature colour since 1962, and that characters including King Louis XIV of France and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz wore red-soled shoes. He said that no designer has the right to ‘a monopoly’ on a colour, questioning why the trademark was ever granted.

I can't say I ever expected a court battle like this! I could see a fashion house getting sued for their ridiculously high heels leaving some poor girl having to use a stairlift, but I wouldn't have predicted them fighting over the right to a sole colour! A legal decision has yet to be made.