Rihanna Instagram post lands Puma in a hopeless place with Europe

Court rules that the singer’s post of shoes means the company forfeits right to protect its designs.

Rihanna posted three photos in December 2014 of white shoes with a thick black sole to mark her signing as Puma’s creative director | Joe Scarnici/Getty Images for PUMA

Rihanna’s Instagram post of her cool new shoes cost Puma the right to protect its designs, a European Union court ruled today.

The General Court backed a Dutch children’s footwear manufacturer that challenged Puma’s attempt to register the design, saying it was already in the public domain on Rihanna’s Instagram account.

Rihanna posted three photos in December 2014 of white shoes with a thick black sole to mark her signing as Puma’s creative director.

Puma filed with the European Union’s Intellectual Property Office in 2016 to get legal protection for the designs. Dutch shoe wholesaler J.H. van Hilst successfully argued that it couldn’t get protection for a design that was already public. Puma went to court to try to reverse that.

The court said it “rejects Puma’s arguments that nobody took an interest in Rihanna’s shoes in December 2014.”

Rihanna is a “world famous pop star,” judges said, and her fans “developed a particular interest in the shoes that she wore,” on the day she signed her contract with Puma.

The ruling could still be appealed to the EU’s top court.