The news made some smile: on January 9, the Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe was to examine three complaints filed by the German shoe manufacturer Birkenstock against alleged imitators on the grounds of copyright. If the highest German court validated that this could apply, this would confer the status of a work of art to Arizonas and others and exclusive rights of use to Birkenstock – third parties would not be authorized to reproduce or copy these models without authorization while replicas abound (the lawsuit targets local competitor Tchibo, among others). Citing an expert commissioned by Birkenstock, who praises a “brutalist shoe”, daily life South German newspaper s’en amuse, “art doesn’t need to be beautiful, in short”. The manufacturer claims that its shoes “are protected in perpetuity – and recognized as nothing less than a unique work of art”seems to be surprised
