According to filings in Washington Federal Court, Brooks Sports has agreed to settle litigation over claims that the company’s running shoes violated Puma’s patent and trademark rights.
Puma and Brooks asked a federal judge in Seattle on Friday, February 21, to dismiss the cases with prejudice, meaning the parties cannot refile the claim. On Monday, February 24, the companies said that the parties had resolved the dispute under confidential terms.
In 2022, Puma alleged that a Brooks ad campaign using “Nitro” to advertise its running shoes violated Puma’s rights to the name, which it uses with competing running shoes. Puma also said in the lawsuit that Brooks’ shoes infringed a design patent covering the foam-molding technology Puma uses in its Nitro shoes. Brooks denied the allegations and said it used “Nitro” solely to describe its shoes’ nitrogen-infused midsoles.
Puma sued Brooks again in Seattle in June 2024, alleging Brooks’ Hyperion running shoes infringed several other patents. Brooks denied the allegations and called the lawsuit a “baseless action” to “harass Brooks and seek leverage in the parties’ ongoing trademark dispute.”
Brooks also sued Puma in Virginia Federal Court in September 2024, seeking an order that its Glycerin running shoes did not infringe Puma patents. Brooks told the Court in a filing last Wednesday, February 19, that they had settled the case in principle.
The Washington cases are Puma SE v. Brooks Sports, Inc, U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, Nos. 2:23-cv-00116 and 2:24-cv-00940.
Johanna Wilbert, Michael Piery, Matthew Holohan and Kent Dallow of Quarles & Brady represented Puma.
Geoffrey Potter, Aron Fischer, Lachlan Campbell-Verduyn, and Jay Cho of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler represented Brooks.
Images courtesy Brooks Running
