{"id":257067,"date":"2026-04-11T22:16:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T13:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/uncategorized\/2026\/04\/11\/birkentstock-s-legal-battle-german-sandal\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T16:54:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T07:54:16","slug":"birkentstock-s-legal-battle-german-sandal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tenbizt.com\/en\/news\/fashion\/2026\/04\/11\/birkentstock-s-legal-battle-german-sandal\/","title":{"rendered":"Birkentstock&#8217;s Legal Battle: Why the German Sandal Brand Lost Its Case Against Counterfeits"},"content":{"rendered":"<table cellspacing=\"5\" cellpadding=\"0\" width=\"640\" align=\"CENTER\" bgcolor=\"ffffff\" border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<table cellspacing=\"5\" cellpadding=\"0\" bgcolor=\"ffffff\" border=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr\/image\/2025\/02\/CP-2023-0094\/image-c4fd154f-fe6a-4bf1-ac8a-78d632e05764.png\" alt=\"Everyone's\" summer staple: birkenstock sandals\u2026but knockoffs flooded the market border=\"0\" width=\"640\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Birkenstock official website<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Birkenstock \u2014 the German brand famous for its cork-footbed sandals and the pair Margot Robbie wore in Barbie \u2014 sued to have its shoes recognized as works of art and to ban counterfeits. It lost. On the 20th (local time), local media reported that the German Federal Court of Justice ruled against Birkenstock in a case it brought against three competitors seeking to prohibit knockoff sales and to have already produced copies destroyed.<\/p>\n<p>Birkenstock argued its sandals qualify as applied art and should receive copyright protection. The court disagreed, saying a design must show a recognizable level of individuality to qualify for copyright. Local outlets interpreted the ruling to mean a product needs creative elements that go beyond mere function \u2014 design that exceeds utility \u2014 to be considered art. Earlier, the Cologne Higher Regional Court also dismissed Birkenstock&#8217;s claim, finding the sandals emphasize health benefits rather than aesthetic design.<\/p>\n<p>The reason Birkenstock pushed the artistic claim is practical: the design protection period for some models has expired. Under current German law, design protection lasts 25 years, while copyright protection for applied art continues for 70 years after the creator&#8217;s death. Karl Birkenstock, who launched the first model, the Madrid, in 1963, is now 89 and still alive, but some of the sandals he originally designed no longer enjoy design protection.<\/p>\n<p>Calling the decision a missed chance to protect intellectual property, Birkenstock said it will \\&#8221;use every legal means\\&#8221; to defend itself against imitators and signaled more lawsuits are coming.<\/p>\n<p>Owned by luxury group Louis Vuitton Mo\u00ebt Hennessy (LVMH), Birkenstock sparked a U.S. craze after Margot Robbie wore its sandals in the 2023 film Barbie. U.S. sales grew to account for as much as 58% of revenue, and the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange \u2014 though most of its products are still made in Germany.<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li><span>School bullies swarm a victim&#8217;s home, causing property damage worth several million won<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>&#8216;My husband, the sole breadwinner, doesn&#8217;t lift a finger at home\u2026 I want a divorce&#8217;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span>&#8216;Three men found dead at a famous Japanese hot spring&#8217;\u2026was a deadly &#8216;this&#8217; the cause?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Birkenstock lost a lawsuit seeking recognition of its sandals as art, with the court ruling functional design is not protected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/contents-cdn.viewus.co.kr\/image\/2025\/02\/CP-2023-0094\/image-c4fd154f-fe6a-4bf1-ac8a-78d632e05764.png","footnotes":""},"categories":[278097],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fashion"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Birkentstock&#039;s Legal Battle: Why the German Sandal Brand Lost Its Case Against Counterfeits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Birkenstock lost a lawsuit seeking recognition of its sandals as art, with the court ruling functional design is not protected.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, 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