SYDNEY — Adidas sued the Australian label White Fox in the Federal Court, arguing that clothes sold with four parallel stripes are deceptively similar to the three-stripe mark the German company has held in Australia since 1957. Adidas told the court it had asked White Fox to stop selling and advertising the clothes since March and that the Sydney company refused. " The statement of claim says the three-stripe design has a "substantial and valuable reputation" in Australia. " The claim also says White Fox advertisements for the four-stripe clothes, and for White Fox socks, showed people wearing genuine Adidas items, which could lead shoppers to think Adidas had approved the design. Adidas filed side-by-side comparisons of sweatpants and lounge shorts, plus photographs of bus and bus-stop billboards.