After claiming superiority over Adidas in football, Nike is upstaging its bitter rival with a widely publicized patent infringement suit. The Swoosh’s new legal challenge charges that the Big a has violated the ‘796 patent for “footwear with lateral stabilizing sole” issued in the USA on Dec. 3, 2002 to protect certain technical columnar design features of its Shox cushioning technology.
Nike says the cushioning system used by Adidas in its a3, adidas_1, adidas Cushion, Adistar Cush M and Kevin Garnett models infringe on this patent, which is one of 19 or more different ones registered in 16 years of development. After receiving confirmation of the complaint, filed in Texas’ Eastern District Court, Adidas declined to comment on its contents pending their examination, but said it would defend itself vigorously against “meritless” lawsuits.
Nike has already been successful in its fight against the magnified display of Three Stripes at the Olympics and in some other sports venues. However, a higher state court in Cologne, Germany, recently supported Adidas’ claim against Nike over a pair of pants that bear two parallel stripes on the sides as well as the Swoosh. Nike has decided to go to a higher court over this issue.
Anyhow Nike has been very active in protecting its intellectual property rights lately. In connection with the recent WSA show in Las Vegas, Nike served two separate lawsuits in a district court of Nevada against two companies, Romeo & Juliet and Air-Max Import & Export. The latter company, which is based in Miami, is accused of violating more than 40 design patents. The action against it followed five years of discussions with the company’s owner, Lam Siu Fung, who also has a Chinese development office in Fujian and a shoe manufacturing factory in Guanzhou City.
Nike has filed suit against the Byron Jones centers in California for alleged violation of three design patents covering the heads of its golf clubs. Nike has also sued various retailers in Orlando, Florida for allegedly selling fake Nike shoes.
