“Aber ist es Kunst?”

That question—“But is it art?”—was before the German Bundesgerichtshof (“BGH”), or Federal Court of Justice, in a recent proceeding involving the well-known Birkenstock sandal design. Birkenstock Group (“Birkenstock”) had sought relief against three rival sandal makers, asserting that the defendants’ products infringed Birkenstock’s copyright on its sandal design. Exemplary designs at issue are shown below.Continue Reading German Birkenstock Decision Shows the Limits of Copyright Protection for Functional Designs