Adidas wins $305 million in trademark suit

updated 6:21 p.m. ET May 6, 2008

TOPEKA, Kan. - Adidas has won $305 million award from a federal jury for trademark violation of its three-stripe design by a Kansas shoe company.

Topeka-based Collective Brands Inc., which operates Payless and Stride Rite shoe store chains, called the award "excessive and unjustified" on Tuesday.

Its shares tumbled 15 percent, or $1.85, to $10.46.

A spokeswoman for Germany's Adidas AG, the world's second-largest sporting goods maker, said the company was happy with the verdict.

"The three-stripes are paramount to the Adidas brand, and a very strong and popular brand symbol globally," spokeswoman Anne Putz wrote in an e-mail. "It is very satisfying for the three stripes to be recognized as a strong trademark after the court heard detailed evidence over more than three weeks."

Adidas on Tuesday reported its first-quarter profit jumped 32 percent, to $261.27 million.

Collective Brands said it plans to ask the court to set the verdict aside. If that request is not granted, the company said in a statement, Collective "intends to take all necessary steps to overturn it."

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