>> It came to light that Christian Louboutin is suing Yves Saint Laurent over a pair of red suede shoes with matching red soles from the latter's Spring 2011 collection (which also happens to include purple shoes with purple soles, navy shoes with navy soles and green shoes with green soles). According to the papers Louboutin's legal team filed in New York, "The defendant's use of red footwear outsoles that are virtually identical to plaintiff's Red Sole Mark is likely to cause and is causing confusion, mistake and deception among the relevant purchasing public as to the origin of the infringing footwear."
Now, Louboutin himself has addressed the matter: "I have the biggest respect for the house of Yves Saint Laurent. Having discussed the matter with them and not been able to reach an agreement, we have had to take this to court. My company has a trademark on the red sole and if we don't enforce it this would leave the door open for other brands to copy us while jeopardising the identity of the Louboutin red sole. No one before me has ever used a coloured sole to define a brand's identity. The red sole has become widely recognised as the distinct sign of my brand in the eyes of women all over the world."