Skechers sues Steve Madden for infringing on GO WALK line

By

Obi Anyanwu

Published
Jul 8, 2015

Skechers is taking Steve Madden to court. The footwear brand announced this week via a press release that it has filed a lawsuit against Steve Madden Ltd. for copyright infringement.

“Skechers has invested tremendous resources into designing, developing, advertising and patenting our Skechers Go Walk and our other popular product lines and has built them into a name and look globally recognized and synonymous with Skechers,” stated David Weinberg, Chief Operating Officer of Skechers. “While we prefer to compete in the market place, Steven Madden is selling its infringing footwear to Skechers’ wholesale customers and in other sales channels where the Skechers products are sold, and we believe this is causing us enormous damage.”
 
The shoe style in question is Steven by Steve Madden’s Setta shoe, which Skechers claims it infringes on the Skechers Go Walk product and other Skechers product lines. The law suit filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as injunctive relief for the infringement.

Weinberg continued, “Considering our investment in the Skechers Go Walk and our other product lines, we will not allow anyone to infringe on some of our most valuable intellectual properties. We plan on taking similar action against any company that develops any products that infringe on the patents of the Skechers Go Walk or any of our other popular product lines, and any retailer that sells the Steven by Steve Madden Setta style.”
 
Skechers has sued Steve Madden in the past for allegedly copying its Twinkle Toes shoe. Steve Madden has also been sued by Balenziaga and Alexander McQueen. Marshall Lerner and Vivian Wang of Kleinberg & Lerner in Los Angeles are representing Skechers.