Are Shoes a Work of Art?
Have you ever come across a pair of shoes that you could simply die for? A pair of Christian Louboutin’s, Monolos or even a pair of sneakers, perhaps? When you are looking at these shoes, in awe of their design, pondering whether to part with your pennies, in that moment, do they think art enthusiasts look at a piece of art in the same amatory way? Can the pure craftmanship of shoe design be treated as applied art?
The globally recognised German sandal maker, Birkenstock, thought so when they brought a copyright infringement case to the German Federal Court last month. Birkenstock has significantly transformed the sandal market from what was once treated as nothing more than a ‘practical’ shoe of choice, to a staple that is quite charming and understated due to its cork and latex soles. Even Barbie swapped her iconic hot pink heels for a pair of pink Birkenstocks in the recent smash-hit movie.
The German shoemaker, headquartered in Linz am Rhein, took to the Federal Court, filing a lawsuit against three competitors, Tchibo, shoe.com and Bestseller, for selling sandals of virtually identical design. The shoe manufacturer claimed that its sandals “are copyright-protected works of applied art” that cannot simply be imitated without an IP agreement. Whilst initially the regional court in Cologne recognised the shoe models as works of applied art and subsequently granted orders to prevent the competitors from producing and stocking shoes of a similar design, Cologne’s higher regional court later overturned the orders on appeal.
When the case reached Germany’s Federal Court of Justice on Thursday 20th February, the Federal Court upheld Cologne’s higher regional court and dismissed the case in its entirety, dashing Birkenstock’s hopes of granting injunction orders to prevent its competitors creating copycat sandals. The court held that “for the copyright protection of a work of applied art – the level of design must not be too low,” and “purely technical creation using formal design elements is not eligible for copyright protection.”
The bottom line is: despite how masterful the design of a shoe may be, the level of craftmanship and world-wide appeal, a shoe design cannot be deemed a work of applied art eligible for copyright protection. Ultimately, functionality and craft trumps art – or at least in the eyes of the law.
By Phoebe-Jean Grainger-Williams