Can sandals be art? Birkenstock says yes, but a German court says no

BERLIN — Birkenstocks: They are ubiquitous in summer, comfy and very German. Sometimes they look chic and sometimes shabby. But can these sandals be considered art?

That's the question Germany's Federal Court of Justice wrestled with Thursday, and it ruled they're just comfy footwear.

Birkenstock, which is headquartered in Linz am Rhein, Germany, and says its tradition of shoemaking goes back to 1774, filed a lawsuit against three competitors who sold sandals that were very similar to its own.

The shoe manufacturer claimed its sandals “are copyright-protected works of applied art" that may not be imitated. Under German law, works of art enjoy stronger and longer-lasting intellectual property protections than consumer products.

The company asked for an injunction to stop its competitors from making copycat sandals and order them to recall and destroy those already on the market. The defendant companies were not identified in the court statement.

Before Germany's highest court for civil trials weighed in Thursday, the case had been heard at two lower courts, which disagreed on the issue.

A regional court in Cologne initially recognized the shoes as works of applied art and granted the orders, but Cologne's higher regional court overturned the orders on appeal, German news agency dpa reported.

The appeals court said it was unable to establish any artistic achievement in the wide-strapped, big-buckled sandals.

The Federal Court of Justice sided with the appeals court and dismissed the case. In its ruling, it wrote that a product can't be copyrighted if “technical requirements, rules or other constraints determine the design.”

“For the copyright protection of a work of applied art — as for all other types of work — the level of design must not be too low,” the court wrote. “For copyright protection, a level of design must be achieved that reveals individuality.”