Last week, tired of being walked all over by Fila, Skechers slammed Fila with a lawsuit for unfair competition, trade dress infringement, design patent infringement, and diution. The suit claims that the design of the Fila AMAZEN MEMORY MOC is confusingly similar to that of the Skechers GO WALK.

SKECHERS GO WALK

The Complaint filed by Skechers highlights the simlarities between the shoes through sketches and photographs and notes that the shoe uppers, toe caps, portal hole, and stitching in the Fila shoe are "confusingly similar" to that of the Skechers shoe. Skechers claims trade dress in the stitching, the toe cap edging, and the portal hole and alleges that Fila's use of its trade dress is likely to deceive consumers and cause confusion.

Skechers sent Fila a cease and desist letter in July 2013, and Fila agreed to cease manufacture of the AMAZEN MEMORY MOC and redesign its shoe. However, a year later, the shoe is still available for purchase.

The suit also includes a dilution count. Skechers claims that the GO WALK is "widely recognized by the general consuming public as a designation of the source of the goods as emanating from Skechers." I'm not sure the Trademarkologists would agree that the GO WALK shoes are famous just yet...famously ugly perhaps. Skechers claims that Fila's use of the GO WALK trade dress on the AMAZEN MEMORY MOC harms Skechers' reputation by wrongly suggesting that the AMAZEN MEMORY MOC has some affilation or association with Skechers.

Stay tuned to see if the Court kicks Fila to the curb or tells Skechers to take a hike.

If you were previously unfamiliar with the GO WALK shoe like I was, take a look at this commercial:

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