The classic Converse All-Star Chuck Taylor sneakers may be the most iconic sneakers—nay, footwear—ever designed. That design is now the subject of a trademark dispute in the International Trade Commission (ITC), recently heard on appeal by the Federal Circuit.

Last month, the Federal Circuit vacated and remanded a 2016 decision by the ITC that had found invalid a Converse trademark registration for the classic midsoles. Converse v. Int’l Trade Comm’n, No. 16-2497, 2018 WL 5536405 (Fed. Cir. Oct. 30, 2018). The court thereby breathed new life into Converse’s effort to halt the respondents’ importation into the United States of footwear that allegedly infringes Converse’s trademark.

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