Adidas is suing Australian label White Fox for selling and advertising clothes with a four-striped design, arguing it is "deceptively similar" to the German brand's distinct logo. The sportswear giant stated that it had repeatedly asked White Fox to stop selling and promoting the clothes since March, but the Sydney-based company refused.
Background
White Fox is a fast-fashion online retailer popular with teenagers and young adults in Australia, the UK, and the US. The company has relied on billboards, bus advertising, and influencers—often university-aged—to grow its profile. The Australian law firms representing both Adidas and White Fox have declined to comment on the case, with the first hearing set to begin on Friday.
Legal Claims
In Federal Court documents, Adidas asserts that its three-striped design has a "substantial and valuable reputation" in Australia, where it has been trademarked since 1957. The company claims that since at least March, White Fox has been selling and advertising clothes with four parallel stripes of equal width, which it argues infringes on Adidas's trademark.
Adidas contends that White Fox's designs are "substantially identical with or otherwise deceptively similar" to its own. Furthermore, it claims that White Fox's advertisements for its four-striped clothes and White Fox-branded socks feature individuals wearing "genuine" Adidas items. This could mislead Australians into believing that Adidas is associated with White Fox and has approved of the design.
