Yves Saint Laurent kicks back at Christian Louboutin

YSL, which has put red soles on a number of styles   Yves Saint Laurent has hit back at Christian Louboutin over claims that it copied the luxury shoemaker's red soles The French fashion house, which is being sued for $1million, says that it has been putting red soles on shoes since the Seventies - long before Mr Louboutin.
According to court papers, YSL claims that the design feature has existed for centuries.
They read: 'Red outsoles are a commonly used ornamental design feature in footwear, dating as far back as the red shoes worn by King Louis XIV in the 1600s and the ruby red shoes that carried Dorothy home in The Wizard of Oz.'
YSL also alleged that Mr Louboutin was fraudulent in his trademark application claim that he had 'exclusive' use of the red sole.
It continued: 'As an industry leader who has devoted his entire professional life to women's footwear, Mr Louboutin either knew or should have known about some or all of the dozens of footwear models that rendered his sworn statement false.'
Mr Louboutin launched legal action last month in an attempt to stop YSL America from selling ‘virtually identical’ red-soled footwear in the same shops that stock his shoes, which are favourites with countless celebrities.
He is seeking more than $1million damages in a Manhattan federal court for alleged trademark infringement and counterfeiting of his shoes’ most distinctive feature.
According to the lawsuit: ‘Mr Louboutin is the first designer to develop the idea of having red soles on women’s shoes.
'The location of the bright colour on the outsole of a woman’s pump is said to provide an alluring “flash of red” when a woman walks down the street, or on the red carpet of a special event.’
The lawsuit claimed that Yves Saint Laurent’s sale of lookalike shoes in Manhattan stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys and Bergdorf Goodman was ‘likely to cause and is causing confusion, mistake and deception among the relevant purchasing public’.
The Parisian shoemaker, who cited four YSL designs, has asked the court to order his rival to stop manufacturing similar designs.
He has also taken legal action against the French operation of Brazilian label Carmen Steffens for alleged trademark infringement.
In a statement responding to the allegations, Carmen Steffens France explained that it had been putting red soles on its shoes since 1996, long before Mr Louboutin's red soles were registered as a trademark in the U.S. in 2008.
Gabriel Spaniol, the brand's international development director, said: 'We are ready to provide unassailable evidence that we have been using colored soles, especially red, before Mr. Christian Louboutin popularized his.'
The release said that the label 'finds it surprising that another brand is trying to reserve the rights to any colour.'
It added: 'The tones are not the same, and, as catalogues dating from 1996 can prove, Carmen Steffens shoes contain soles of all colours, including red.'a