Birkenstock Sandals Do Not Enjoy Copyright Protection as Art and Thus Do Not Entitle to Copyright Protection. The Federal Supreme Court (BGH) ruled on Thursday in three appeals against the company. The claims brought by the plaintiff are thus unfounded, as the sandal models in question are not copyright-protected works of applied art.
The Higher Regional Court had correctly assumed in the first instance that copyright protection requires a creative freedom and that in artistic terms, it is used. A free and creative creation is, according to the BGH, excluded where technical requirements, rules, or other constraints determine the design. For the copyright protection of a work of applied art, a non-negligible design height is thus to be demanded.
The Higher Regional Court had thoroughly examined all design features that, in the plaintiff’s opinion, justify the copyright protection of the sandal models, as the Karlsruhe judges stated. In a “rights-error-free judicial evaluation” it was found that it cannot be established that the existing design scope has been artistically exploited to the extent that the sandal models of the plaintiff entitle to copyright protection (judgments of February 20, 2025 – I ZR 16/24; I ZR 17/24; I ZR 18/24).