The Fourth Circuit refused to register the configuration of Timberland's iconic tan work boot, holding that Timberland's evidence proved the fame of the whole boot but not acquired distinctiveness in the discrete features it claimed.
The Second Circuit saved Christian Louboutin's red-sole trademark from an aesthetic-functionality death sentence but narrowed it to soles that contrast with the rest of the shoe, leaving YSL's all-red shoe free to walk.
The Supreme Court held that a feature claimed in an expired utility patent is presumptively functional and barred from trade dress protection, and that the availability of alternative designs does not rescue a functional feature.
A unanimous Supreme Court held that a single color can serve as a trademark once it acquires secondary meaning, while making functionality the gatekeeper that keeps color from becoming a competitive chokehold.
