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STORY: Adidas did a hasty u-turn on Wednesday (March 29).

It dropped a bid to stop Black Lives Matter registering a trademark which it said was similar to its own three stripes.

Adidas said the group’s yellow-stripe design would create confusion - especially on goods that it also sells, such as hats and t-shirts.

The German sportswear giant had filed a request to the U.S. Trademark Office earlier in the week seeking to block registration of the logo.

Adidas says it has been using its own three-stripe design since 1952.

It has filed over 90 lawsuits and signed more than 200 settlement deals related to the trademark just since 2008.

That’s according to court documents filed in a case against designer Thom Browne.

A jury in that case decided Browne’s stripy designs did not violate Adidas’s trademark rights.

The Black Lives Matter Global Foundation is the most prominent entity in the decentralized movement, which campaigns to stop police violence against Black people.

It applied for a federal trademark in November 2020 for use on a variety of merchandise and publications.

On Wednesday, Adidas gave no reason for dropping its objection to the logo.