The Oregon-based sportswear giant Nike has suffered a setback after a European Union court upheld a complaint by German rival Puma. Nike wanted to register the capitalization of the word "Footware" for tech-related products as a trademark.

The General Court of the European Union, the second highest court of the bloc, rejected Nike's trademark application and ordered the world's largest shoe manufacturer to cover the legal costs in favor of Puma.

Nike could appeal the court's decision to the European Court of Justice, the highest court in the EU. The U.S. company has not responded to a request for comment.

A spokeswoman for Puma stated that the company welcomed the decision, as Puma has long argued that at least some consumers would misunderstand the term ‘Footware’ as ‘Footwear’ and ‘therefore would view the term ‘Footware’ only as descriptive information’, which cannot be a trademark.

The sportswear giant from Oregon wanted to use "Footware," a pun combining "Foot" with "Software" or "Hardware," for a range of technology-related products.

The court's decision follows a series of legal disputes with competing sportswear manufacturers after Nike filed trademark applications for the term in the US, UK, and Europe in 2019.

Mid-2021, Nike had won against Puma after the British High Court approved the trademark registration despite Puma's complaint that 'Footware' could mislead some consumers. The German sportswear manufacturer had argued that the label would be seen by the public as a misspelling of 'Footwear' rather than as an independent product name.

At the beginning of this year, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in the USA stopped Nike's attempt to register a trademark.

The decision followed a complaint by the American sneaker manufacturer San Antonio Shoemakers, who argued that the term was merely descriptive since the words "Footware" and "Footwear" are often used interchangeably to refer to shoes.