This is the latest of numerous copyright battles to defend the legendary three-stripe design, which Adidas began using in 1952 and trademarked in 1994. The German sportswear giant recently won a similar case against shoe retailer Payless Shoesource after Payless began selling shoes with parallel stripes. Adidas was awarded $304.6 million in damages.

Wal-Mart could be facing even higher damages, as the suit claims Wal-Mart has ‘maliciously” sold hundreds of thousands of imitation Adidas shoes in violation of a 2002 settlement that barred it from offering “confusingly similar” products. A previous settlement, in 1995, prohibited Wal-Mart from selling shoes with parallel stripes.

According to CEO Herbert Hainer, Adidas has about 60 lawyers handling trademark cases worldwide. The company has also sued Steven Madden Ltd., Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., Target Corp., Nordstrom Inc and Kmart. None of those cases went to trial, as they were all solved with confidential settlements.

Image: Adidas