According to the Daily Mail, Ralph Lauren has agreed to destroy a range of its athletic shoes, after popular footwear brand Converse filed a lawsuit against the company claiming that the designs were a direct copy of its iconic Chuck Taylor All Star sneakers.
Back in October, Converse Inc. — who’s owned by Nike – filed trademark infringement lawsuits against 31 companies, including Ralph Lauren. The suit claimed that each of the 31 companies included replicated the All Stars’ mid sole stripe and rubber toe cap.
However, as per Women’s Wear Daily, Converse has reached an out of court settlement with Ralph Lauren Corp., which stipulates that the rival brand must scrap all of its copycat sneakers within the next 30 days and pay an undisclosed amount. Ralph Lauren has less than one month to destroy not only the 36 different styles of shoes named in the complaint but also all related molds, parts, tools, marketing, packaging and promotional materials.
“The goal really is to stop this action. I think we’re quite fortunate here to be in the possession of what we would consider to be an American icon,” said Jim Calhoun, the Converse chief executive, to the New York Times back in October.
