Skechers files a complaint alleging footwear design infringement

Skechers U.S.A., Inc. filed a complaint against The Children’s Place Retail Stores, Inc., on February 2, 2012 (case number 2:2012-cv-00928 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California) alleging that Children’s Place manufactures, imports, sells, and offers to sell a line of footwear that “embodies and infringes the patented invention” disclosed in Skechers’s U.S. Design Patent D571,095.

The design patent at issue claims the ornamental design for a “crystal-covered show toe cap,” shown below.

Figure 1 (left) and Figure 3 (right) from U.S. D 571,095

The complaint alleges that “Children's Place footwear line includes, among others, shoes that have a vulcanized canvas sneaker, a toe cap adorned with crystal, rhinestones, sequins or a plurality of other similar shiny elements, and canvas uppers distinguished by colorful art designs or patterns.” Images of the allegedly infringing footwear, taken from page 8 of the complaint, are shown below.

Examples of allegedly infringing Children's Place footwear

This complaint against Children’s Place follows Croc’s successful enforcement of footwear design patents against Skechers, which we previously covered.