Lidl banned from selling copycat Birkenstock sandals, Dutch court rules

Lidl has been banned from selling copycat versions of Birkenstock sandals in the Netherlands, a Dutch court has ruled.

The discount supermarket chain faces a fine of €5,000 (£4,200) per day if it fails to comply, and must hand over sales data to Birkenstock, according to the ruling. Lidl must also compensate the German sandal maker and pay its legal fees, with the amounts to be decided in separate court decisions.

The ruling, which can still be appealed, bars Lidl from selling its imitation versions of Birkenstock’s Arizona, Madrid, Gizeh, Boston and Florida models across the Netherlands, after the court found the grocer infringed the brand’s trademark “footbed design”.

Birkenstock said the judgement sent a clear message that “copycats must not be allowed to free-ride on [our] creativity and innovation”, and that it would “continue to defend its rights vigorously and will use all available legal means to combat imitations of its iconic products”. The BBC has approached Lidl for comment.

It is the latest in a string of court decisions over Birkenstock’s designs. In November 2025, a Dutch court stopped retailer Scapino selling similar lookalikes in a judgment that is being appealed, and in December 2025 Europe’s highest court ruled everyday commercial products can hold copyright where they reflect creative design choices — a decision Birkenstock said was relevant to its sandals. But in early 2025, Germany’s highest court ruled the sandals were practical products rather than works of art, an outcome Birkenstock called a “missed opportunity”.

Sources

• BBC News, “Lidl banned from selling copycat Birkenstock sandals, Dutch court rules” (23 September 2026): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cqrm90m2g1dzo?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss