Levi Strauss has won a trademark battle against a rival company over the small red label stitched into the seam pocket on its jeans.
The Daily Telegraph reports the company took legal action in Germany against Colosseum Holdings for breaching its trademark rights. The Swiss Company was selling jeans with a similar rectangular red label stitched into the seam of the back pocket, making it look like a Levi product.
Levi argued the red label would be recognized by consumers as a sign of the red tab jeans it makes, even without the Levi’s brand logo being printed on it.
The company owns the red tab in certain positions on jeans pockets as an EU trademark, as well as the composite mark of the same red tab carrying the word Levi’s.
Colosseum Holdings denied that its own red label was causing any confusion because its company name was included on the tab. It also argued that Levi Strauss should lose the trademark rights to the red tab alone as it had never actually used it.
However, the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg said the red tab could be seen as an integral part of the Levi’s brand, even though the company had not applied the red tab separately.