Adidas is taking legal action against Fashion Nova once again after the German sportswear brand claims the fast-fashion retailer violated a 2022 settlement agreement.
According to a filing in the U.S. District Court of Central California on Tuesday, Adidas claims that Fashion Nova has breached their agreement signed less than three years ago by promoting, offering for sale and/or selling many of the exact same designs it had promised to discontinue.
Adidas also claims that in addition to advertising and selling apparel containing designs “identical or substantially similar” to those prohibited by the 2022 agreement, Fashion Nova released an entirely new batch (with additional items marked as “coming soon”) of footwear and apparel bearing confusingly similar or substantially indistinguishable imitations of the Three-Stripe mark.
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“Fashion Nova’s actions constitute a clear breach of its obligations under the 2022 agreement, and its marketing and/or sale of the infringing apparel and footwear is likely to cause consumer confusion and deceive the public regarding its source, sponsorship or affiliation,” Adidas alleged. “Fashion Nova’s willful infringement of Adidas’ Three-Stripe mark is irreparably harming Adidas as it has no control over the quality, standards or designs of the infringing apparel and footwear.”
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Adidas added that “the massive volume and speed” at which Fashion Nova churns out new products “exacerbates the harm to Adidas’ reputation while simultaneously depriving Adidas of an adequate remedy at law for Fashion Nova’s ever-growing trademark infringement and counterfeiting.”
This isn’t the first time to the two companies were involved in a legal dustup over alleged trademark infringement. The two company’s legal disagreements started in 2019, when Adidas said it learned that Fashion Nova was selling apparel and footwear featuring stripe designs that were “confusingly similar — and often identical”— o its famous Three-Stripe mark.
The two companies ultimately resolved the 2019 lawsuit through the 2022 agreement, where Fashion Nova agreed not to produce, manufacture, distribute, sell, offer for sale, advertise, promote, license or market apparel and footwear that infringe Adidas’ marks.
Adidas is a staunch defender of its Three-Stripe logo—most recently seen in its ongoing battle with American designer Thom Browne. In November, Thom Browne won the latest round of the multinational legal dispute with Adidas over striped trademarks.
The High Court of England and Wales, located in London, dismissed Adidas‘ claims of trademark infringement. In July, Adidas sought to remove Thom Browne’s range of products comprising its signature four-bar motif from the U.K. market, contending it would confuse consumers.