Puma loses EU trademark on shoes 'because of' Rihanna

The spotlight is on Rihanna and Puma, and not because of a viral advertising campaign or a trend set to invade social media. The sports shoe manufacturer and the well-known pop star have found themselves - unknowingly - at the centre of a legal débâcle. Let's try to make the point.

The European Court has upheld the decision of the European Union Office for Intellectual Property (Euipo) to annul theapplication - granted in August 2016 - for registration of a model of trainers that the German brand had filed to protect the design from possible imitation attempts. A strategy thwarted - in spite of herself - by the singer who, two years before the application was approved and completely unaware of the legal implications of her style choice, had sported a pair of shoes almost identical to the registered model.

As confirmed by a series of photographs posted on Instagram on the occasion of her appointment as the company's art director, in fact, Rihanna had been wearing very similar trainers (white and with a thick black sole) long before her application in December 2014. And, of course, the images had made the rounds on the web, ending up in all the online publications. A detail that did not escape Euipo's notice: according to the office, in fact, that evidence was sufficient to prove the earer disclosure of the design (clearly unlawful because outside the terms suggested by the law to consider it 'novelty') and, automatically, the fact that specialised circles were already aware of it. The photos circulated by the artist on his 'Badgalriri' profile left nothing to the imagination: the shoes of discord were clearly recognisable to the naked eye and had features that closely resembled those of the patent filed. To consider them as original when (essentially) they had already ended up on the market in an almost identical variant would have been a big mistake.

Puma's attempt to appeal the measure was to no avail. The company tried to defend itself by claiming that in December 2014, the shoes shown by Rihanna had not caused any movement and no one had been interested in that design. A decidedly unconvincing argument for the European judges. Who, assessing the evidence at hand, could do no more than legitimise the verdict formulated by the Euipo in August 2022 (Case C-647/22). According to the Court, in fact, in 2014 the singer was already a world-famous star and it was quite impossible to think that devoted fans and fashion industry insiders had not been captivated by the shoes matching the outfit chosen for such an important day as the signing of a partnership contract with Puma. Which still has one cartridge left to fire: whether or not to appeal the EU Court's decision.