Intermedium designs, produces and exports shoes in all of Europe. When she introduces a comparable shoe a legal conflict soon followed. The sheep skin boot has existed for several decades and is therefore not eligible for design protection. Intermedium claims that her shoe is sufficiently different from other shoes, and the similar seams have a mechanical function.
This argument does not seem to hold up in court, because seams can be placed anywhere on a shoe. In Intermedium’s boot the seams, as well as the fold-over and the wool elements are in exactly the same place. This makes the overall impression the same as the UGG boot. The consequence: cessation of all sales, transfer of profits to UGG and payment of UGG legal costs (ca. 20,000 euro).
