On October 30, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded the International Trade Commission’s decision regarding the trade dress infringement of Converse’s design in its Chuck Taylor shoes (see below). In a split opinion, the Court held that trade dress infringement occurs only if the defendant’s design is substantially similar to the plaintiff’s design – a standard which the Federal Circuit noted was analogous to the standard for design patent infringement: “where infringement cannot be found unless an ordinary observer would perceive that the ‘two designs are substantially the same.’” Given the tie… Read more