Puma filed with the European Union’s Intellectual Property Office in 2016 to get legal protection for the designs. Dutch shoe wholesaler J.H. van Hilst successfully argued that it couldn’t get protection for a design that was already public. Puma went to court to try to reverse that.
The court said it “rejects Puma’s arguments that nobody took an interest in Rihanna’s shoes in December 2014.”
Rihanna is a “world famous pop star,” judges said, and her fans “developed a particular interest in the shoes that she wore,” on the day she signed her contract with Puma.
The ruling could still be appealed to the EU’s top court.
The case is T-647/22 Puma vs. EUIPO.
