Dutch court bans Lidl from selling five Birkenstock copies. 5,000 euros a day if it does

The District Court of Gelderland ruled on 24 September that Lidl sold copies of five Birkenstock sandals. The discounter has to stop selling them in the Netherlands or pay 5,000 euros, about 4,200 pounds, for every day it carries on.

Arizona, Madrid, Gizeh, Boston and Florida are named in the ruling

The court did not rule on sandals in general. It listed five models by name, which is what makes the order enforceable. A retailer can change a buckle or a strap and argue the product is different. Naming the models closes that gap for these five and leaves the rest of the range open.

The sole is what the court treated as a protected design

Birkenstock’s case rests on the shape of the footbed rather than on a logo. That is a harder argument than trademark, because it asks a court to treat a functional object as a design worth protecting. Gelderland accepted it. The court accepted it, and that is the finding an appeal would have to overturn.

Lidl also has to hand over its sales figures

The order goes past the shelf. Lidl must give Birkenstock its sales data for the products, and pay damages and costs in amounts to be set later. Those figures are the basis for the bill, so the sales data is the part Lidl will fight hardest. Birkenstock said copycats must not be allowed to free-ride on its work, in the original English.

This is a first-instance judgment and Lidl can appeal

Nothing here is final. An appeal would suspend the practical effect for the models in question, and discount retailers usually take that route when the design line is this contested. European courts have been busy on brand questions this year, including the Frankfurt ruling holding Meta liable for scam ads using the Finanzfluss brand.

The change starts now and applies only in the Netherlands. Lidl has to clear those five models from Dutch shelves and its Dutch website immediately or the daily penalty starts running. Buyers at other discounters have a date to work with too, because a design decision made in Gelderland is the one their lawyers will be asked about next. The wider ad market context sits in our coverage of German ad spend in August.