Vans Wins Court Appeal to Ban MSCHF From Selling "Wavy Baby" Sneakers
The court reaffirms that the shoes are likely to cause confusion amongst consumers.
Vans have officially won a court appeal that gives the footwear company an early victory that bans MSCHF from selling its Wavy Baby shoes.
Reuters reported that the decision by the court is in response to Vans suing MSCHF for trademark infringement last April that saw U.S. District Judge William Kuntz preliminarily blocked sales of the shoes, which were released in collaboration with Tyga, later that month. The U.S. appeals court has upheld the early victory earlier this week that blocks the sales art MSCHF’s Wavy Baby shoe that were meant to be a parody of the classic Vans’ Old Skool silhouette. Vans originally accused MSCHF for infringing its trademarks. The court appears to agree affirming that the MSCHF shoes would confuse consumers.
The appeals court also claims that MSCHF is not entitled to any constitutional protections that would allow the application to works of art in trademark cases. The First Amendment does not apply to MSCHF because the brand used Vans’ trademarks as trademarks to “brand its own products.” The three-judge panel agreed that the ban on MSCHF’s shoes were justified, noting the similarity of the designs. In regards to confusing consumers, given that Vans have had a great history of collaborations, consumers often mistook the Wavy Baby shoes as another Vans collaboration.
