TOPEKA, Kansas (AP) -- Adidas has won $305 million (euro196.4 million) award from a federal jury for trademark violation of its three-stripe design by a Kansas shoe company.
Topeka-based Collective Brands Inc., which operates Payless and Stride Rite shoe store chains, called the award ''excessive and unjustified'' on Tuesday.
Its shares tumbled 13 percent, or $1.57 (euro1.01), to $10.74 (euro6.92).
A spokeswoman for Germany's Adidas AG, the world's second-largest sporting goods maker, said the company was happy with the verdict.
''The three-stripes are paramount to the Adidas brand, and a very strong and popular brand symbol globally,'' spokeswoman Anne Putz wrote in an e-mail. ''It is very satisfying for the three stripes to be recognized as a strong trademark after the court heard detailed evidence over more than three weeks.''
Adidas on Tuesday reported its first-quarter profit jumped 32 percent, to $261.27 million (euro168.3 million).
Collective Brands said it plans to ask the court to set the verdict aside. If that request is not granted, the company said in a statement, Collective ''intends to take all necessary steps to overturn it.''