When anyone sees a red sole, we tend to assume, or rather, take for granted that it is a Christian Louboutin shoe. And last month (April 2011), Louboutin made headlines when it sued YSL for trademark infringement.

Now, YSL fights back in court arguing that despite securing a patent in the US for the red sole in 2008, red soles are not exclusive to Louboutin as they have been in use since the 1600s: “Red outsoles are 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”, the Daily Mail reports.

Although this may be so, the Louboutin still insists that he was the one who had first developed the idea of putting a red sole on women’s shoes and popularised this, and viewed YSL’s red-soled shoes from this season as a conscious attempt to mislead and deceive consumers and the general public.

Because of the loss in sales revenue from this lawsuit, Louboutin is seeking US$1 million in damages for trademark infringement and “counterfeiting of his shoes’ most distinctive feature”.