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<i>adidas v. Payless</i>

By Charles H. Hooker III and Sara M. Vanderhoff

After almost seven years since inception, the lawsuit by adidas America, Inc. and adidas-Solomon AG ('adidas') against Payless ShoeSource, Inc. ('Payless') ended at the trial level with a jury verdict against Payless in the amount of $305 million. Payless was found guilty of willful federal trademark and trade dress infringement, trademark and trade dress dilution, and state-law unfair and deceptive trade practices as a result of its sale of footwear bearing confusingly similar imitations of adidas's famous Three-Stripe Mark and Superstar Trade Dress.

On Nov. 8, 2001, adidas filed its Original Complaint, accusing Payless of selling two- and four-stripe confusingly similar imitations of adidas's three-stripe shoes, including its classic Superstar design, as well as other popular adidas shoes such as the Prajna, Mei, Copa Mundial, Campus, Samoa, Stan Smith, Tuscany/adi Racer, and Country Ripple. Between 2001 and the verdict in 2008, Payless continued to introduce new, similar footwear models that adidas would accuse of infringement throughout the pendency of the litigation. In all, 267 Payless lots were accused, of which the jury found all but one to infringe and dilute adidas's trademark and trade dress interests.

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