On Thursday, the federal court of justice in Karlsruhe, Germany, ruled that Birkenstocks were not “copyrighted works of applied art,” making it harder for the 251-year-old German shoemaker to combat the widespread sale of duplicates of its sandals across the internet.

Birkenstock sandals are ubiquitous in summer. But can the well-known footwear be considered art? That’s the question Germany’s Federal Court of Justice had to wrestle with on Thursday.

In a lawsuit, Birkenstock aimed to combat knockoffs, but the court determined the German footwear does not meet the definition of “applied art.”