K-Swiss vs Puma

As the German business magazine Wirtschaftswoche reports in its online issue, the German sporting goods manufacturer Puma is facing a battle in the US over its trademarked “form strip”, a bended leather strip. One of Puma’s competitors, K-Swiss, claims that Puma’s trademark application with the US Trademark and Patent Office was erroneous.

K-Swiss argues that Puma had deliberately given false information when filing their trademark application. Allegedly the German entity (Puma AG) misrepresented that its North American entity, Puma North America, is co-proprietor of the trademark, by declaring Puma North America to be the only one having any rights to this mark.

Wirtschaftswoche states that the background of this matter is an ongoing dispute between the two companies in which Puma alleges K-Swiss to use a leather strip on one of its shoes similar to Puma’s formstrip.