Are you wearing art on your feet? 🤔 The Federal Court of Justice has ruled: Birkenstock sandals are not works of art and therefore do not enjoy copyright protection. This decision means that competitor products can remain on the market.
The focus was on models such as the "Arizona", "Madrid", "Gizeh" and the "Boston" clog, which the company, now part of the luxury group LVMH $MC (-0.14%) wanted to protect. The presiding judge, Thomas Koch, clarified that these sandals are not copyright-protected works of applied art.
The background to this is that copyright protection applies for 70 years after the death of the creator, whereas design protection ends after 25 years. As Karl Birkenstock, who designed the first models in the 1970s, is still alive, there was no protection against imitators.
What do you think about this decision? Is this a setback for Birkenstock or an opportunity for creative competition?
