Nike Inc. is asking a U.S. trade agency to block imports of a wide range of Adidas AG Primeknit shoes, shown lead image, saying the shoes infringe on Nike patents covering its lightweight Flyknit design technology.
The complaint, filed Wednesday with the International Trade Commission, seeks to ban imports of a wide range of shoes across lifestyle, soccer cleats, running, and hiking categories, including Adidas by Stella McCartney Ultraboost, Pharell Williams Superstar Primeknit Shoes, Terrex Free Hiker, and X Speedflow. In total, Nike charges 49 Adidas shoe designs using its allegedly similar Primeknit technology and infringes on six Nike patents.
Nike also filed a patent-infringement suit in Oregon federal court making similar allegations.
The patents cover Nike’s FlyKnit technology, which uses specialized yarn from recycled and reclaimed materials to create a “sock-like” fit in the shoe’s upper. Nike said it resulted from more than a decade of research and “represented the first major technological innovation in footwear uppers in decades.”
According to Nike, Adidas introduced Primeknit five months after Nike announced Flyknit in 2012.
Adidas failed last July in an attempt to invalidate two of the Nike patents with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit last year.
An Adidas spokesperson said in an email to Reuters that the company was analyzing the complaint and would defend itself against the allegations, adding that its Primeknit technology “resulted from years of dedicated research.”
Photo courtesy Adidas
