Crocs, Inc. – you either hate them or you love them
Some people wear Crocs as a fashion statement in the city, while others wear them strictly in the privacy of their garden and hide them behind the door the minute they go back inside.
The Crocs shoes below aren’t everyone’s thing. … We are talking about Crocs here − aren’t we?
Sufang Yan, a Slovakian company, registered the shoes shown above as a European design in 2022. We were, to say the least, not surprised when Crocs, Inc. raised concerns and filed a request to invalidate the design. Crocs argued that the overall impression of the Sufang Yan design was not sufficiently different from the existing version of Crocs' shown below. In other words, it failed to meet the criteria of novelty and individual character.
The Crocs, Inc. design
We can be brief here: the designs are virtually identical with regard to their shape and the evenly distributed holes. Both shoes are blue and feature a heel strap held in place by a button. The only differences noted by the European Trademarks Office (EUIPO) were the Crocs, Inc. logo on the button of the original design and the fact that the shades of blue were slightly different.
Since the shape and other features of the design are extremely similar, the overall impression made by the shoes is still essentially the same. The manufacturer could have made any number of design choices that would have distinguished their shoe from the older design, yet they opted for nearly identical features.
Sufang Yan's design lacks novelty and individual character, and the EUIPO declared the model invalid. Crocs fans can now at least feel reassured that they are buying authentic Crocs.
Author: Erwin Haüer
Bio: Erwin is a trademark attorney and, as the managing partner, in charge of IT and Information Management. He works extensively with startups and scale-ups, while his clientele also includes numerous multinational corporations. Erwin possesses a sharp wit and a keen eye for remarkable trademark news and curious brand infringements.