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The outside of a Skechers shoe store is seen at Times Square in New York May 2, 2014. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
(Reuters) - A Manhattan judge cleared Skechers U.S.A. Inc on Tuesday from rival shoemaker Easy Spirit LLC's claims that its "Commute Time" shoes infringed Easy Spirit's "Traveltime" trademark.
U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said he gave "great weight" to a survey showing that 0% of people who responded were confused by the allegedly similar brand names.
Easy Spirit, now owned by Marc Fisher Footwear, sued Skechers in 2019, saying Skechers' Commute Time shoes copied its popular Traveltime slip-on women's sneakers.
U.S. District Judge William Pauley rejected some of Easy Spirit's claims in January, finding it didn't own protectable trademark rights in the shoe's design. The case was transferred to Rakoff after Pauley died in July.
Rakoff held a bench trial in September on Easy Spirit's claims that the Commute Time name was likely to cause confusion with Traveltime. Rakoff said on Tuesday the likelihood-of-confusion test justified ruling for Skechers, even though some elements of it favored Easy Spirit.
The strength of the Traveltime mark and fact that the companies sell competing goods weighed moderately in favor of finding confusion. But Skechers' survey evidence was a "powerful indication" that confusion wasn't likely, Rakoff said, and he rejected Easy Spirit's challenges to its reliability.
The shoes' names also don't "look the same, sound the same, or mean the same thing," Rakoff said, discounting Easy Spirit's argument that the marks were similar because commuting is a type of traveling.
Rakoff also wasn't persuaded by Easy Spirit's argument that Skechers purposely copied the Traveltime shoe and "slapped on a confusingly similar name." Evidence that Skechers employees used Easy Spirit's shoe as inspiration for Commute Time's design and name indicated "an intent to compete rather than confuse," Rakoff said.
"Needless to say, we are very pleased that the Court reached the correct decision in this case," Skechers' attorney Daniel Petrocelli of O'Melveny & Myers said in an email.
Marc Fisher and Easy Spirit's attorneys Darren Saunders of Peroff Saunders and Catherine Deist of Mukasey Frenchman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Skechers has sued Easy Spirit in California for allegedly ripping off its "Go Walk" and "D'Lites" shoes, in a case that's still pending.
The case is Easy Spirit LLC v. Skechers U.S.A. Inc, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:19-cv-03299.
For Easy Spirit: Darren Saunders of Peroff Saunders; and Catherine Deist of Mukasey Frenchman
For Skechers: Daniel Petrocelli of O'Melveny & Myers; and Andrew Ligotti of Alston & Bird
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Skechers escapes Easy Spirit's 'Traveltime' trademark claims - Reuters
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