Vans and Walmart reach settlement over retail titan “shamelessly selling copycat (Vans) shoes”

Walmart argued that Vans’ trademark rights are “weak.”

Two years ago, Vans threw their lawyers at Walmart for allegedly, well, look for yourself and you can see how allegedly it is, knocking off its famous designs. 

Vans told the US District Court the Arkansas-based retailer was “shamelessly selling copycat shoes in a direct effort to confuse consumers, unlawfully siphon sales from Vans, and intentionally damage its valuable intellectual property rights.” 

And, was “flood[ing] the market with cheap, low-quality, and confusingly similar shoes” that are little more than “blatant knockoff versions.”

Vans said the shoes were causing actual confusion among consumers “and set out claims of direct and contributory trademark infringement, unfair competition, and false designation of origin under the Lanham Act and California state law, and sought injunctive relief and monetary damages.”

Walmart argued that Vans’ trademark rights are “weak” and that consumers ain’t that dumb; that you don’t have to be real smart to tell the diff between a Walmart version of Vans’ kicks and the real thing. 

The judge sided with the OGs, saying its designs, the side-stripe logo, the checkerboard slip-on etc, were “distinctive” and were “valid and protectable.” 

Judge also said that a “reasonably prudent consumer” is probs gonna be confused. 

The settlement was undisclosed but after two years of fighting, Vans wouldn’t have let go of that bone cheap.

Even if it ain’t owned by the late, great Pauly Van Doren anymore, the brand is as authentic as it comes. 

Van Doren, a high-school drop-out, whose nickname was Dutch the Clutch, created the Van Doren Rubber Co in 1966 with his little brother, James, who died in 2011, and their pals Gordon, Ryan Emmert and Serge D’Elia. 

The first store, in Anaheim, California, sold American-made shoes direct to the public with the slogan, “Canvas Shoes for the Entire Family” at prices between two and four dollars a pair. 

Y’don’t have to trawl too deep into a surfer or skater’s wardrobe to find a dirty ol pair of Off the Walls or Authentics, shoes mercifully unchanged in almost fifty years.

As Stacy Peralta said: “Vans is one of the greatest legacy companies not only in skateboarding, but in the worldwide community of action sports.”

Final words go, as they must, to Sean Penn, who used his own pair of  OTW  slip-ons in the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a decision that would propel sales of the show into the stratosphere.