Shoes come in many shapes and styles—running shoes, dress shoes, work boots, high heels, and (relevant here) skate shoes, to name a few. The designs of these shoes are virtually limitless, and if a shoe has a sufficiently distinctive and unique design, that design may qualify for trade dress protection. A distinctive shoe design can be protected as a trade dress if the design as a whole is non-functional—i.e., it is not essential to the shoe’s use or purpose and does not affect the shoe’s cost or quality—and the features comprising the design are clearly defined. These requirements were at the center of a Central District of California summary judgment ruling, where the Court refused to find that two of Vans’ shoe designs were functional or improperly defined.
