New Balance has sued Decathlon for copyright infringement It's all about the logo
New Balance has sued Decathlon for copyright infringement. The news was first reported by Reuters. On September 15, the US brand filed a lawsuit against the French company in the Massachusetts Court over the alleged improper use of its logo. More specifically, Decathlon’s new line of running shoes Kiprun, the company’s running brand, features an upside-down capital K that New Balance claims is strikingly similar to its own capital N logo.
The Kiprun logo was updated in April 2025 and in its new version is displayed rotated, losing the familiar shape of a K. So much so that New Balance argues it can, without any doubt, be mistaken for an N — the logo designed for New Balance by Terry Heckler in the 1970s — and therefore for a product from the Boston-based brand. New Balance is now asking for all Kiprun shoes featuring the disputed logo to be removed from the market and destroyed, as well as seeking damages, the amount of which would be determined at trial before a jury.
New Balance is seeking the removal from the market of eight Kiprun running shoe models in total, including the Kipstorm Lab, the company’s flagship product, which is also worn by professional athletes. Neither company has issued an official statement so far, but according to further reports, New Balance had already contacted Decathlon in January. At the time, the US brand asked the French company to change the logo, followed by further communications in which New Balance maintained that Decathlon was operating in violation of its intellectual property rights.
Among the documents submitted as part of the lawsuit, New Balance also included comments posted on Kiprun’s social media accounts, where users responding to the brand’s campaigns pointed out the logo’s explicit resemblance to the New Balance N. This is not the first lawsuit of its kind involving New Balance. In 2020, the brand settled a case against Michael Kors and Nautica over the improper use of its logo, through a mediation process that did not result in any compensation. In 2017, for the same reason, it secured $1.5 million in damages from a Chinese court.