Monday, October 25, 2021

Oh, patents! Balenciaga track shoes

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The below-listed luxury sneakers, from the Spanish Basque fashion design house Balenciaga, founded in 1919 by Cristóbal Balenciaga, are patented. The US design patent USD909020S titled Track shoe was awarded to the designer and inventor Demna Gvasalia, on February 2nd 2021, and assigned to Balenciaga.

As a reminder the difference between a US design patent and a US utility patent is the following:

“a “utility patent” protects the way an article is used and works (35 U.S.C. 101), while a "design patent" protects the way an article looks (35 U.S.C. 171)” (USPTO – MPEP)

The patent Figure 5 is included below, together with a few versions of the actually marketed Balenciaga track shoes. 






References

Balenciaga

https://www.balenciaga.com/en-us

USPTO - MPEP – Chapt. 1502-01 – Distinction between design and utility patent
https://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/mpep/s1502.html
 


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