Nike Inc. won a temporary injunction from the District Court in Nuremberg that prohibits Adidas from selling the adiZero Primeknit. Nike claimed in its suit that the shoes infringe on its Flyknit patent.
In a statement, Nike said the District Court in Nuremberg had granted its application for an interim injunction against Adidas for patent infringement by the “adizero primeknit” shoe released in July 2012. As a result, Adidas has been ordered to stop the manufacture and distribution of the shoe in Germany.
“Nike has a strong heritage of innovation and leadership in footwear design and development,” Nike said in its statement. “Our patents are the foundation of that leadership and we protect them vigorously. In this case, the injunction helps protect the innovative Nike Flyknit footwear technology Nike introduced in February 2012. We look forward to presenting our case for a permanent injunction to the court.”
Adidas launched the Primeknit at the start of the 2012 London Olympics. Many critics at the time noted how similar the one-piece upper was to Nike's Flyknit.
Adidas didn't respond directly to the lawsuit but James Carnes, Adidas' head of design for sport performance, in an interview with sneaker blog CounterKicks.com claimed Adidas was working on the Primeknit for four years, and documents to prove it. He also implied that Adidas had wanted to tie its launch to the Olympic games and noted that sometimes innovations in industries occur at the same time. Said Carnes, “It's always been the case that great ideas break to the surface at the same time because we live in an interconnected world with environmental, economic and societal pressures.”
At Nike Inc.'s annual meeting in mid-September, Nike CEO Mark Parker heralded the Flyknit as one of Nike's breakthrough innovations over the past year. The model utilizes technologies that enables the upper to be made “using little more than thread” to enhance its lightweight and breathable properties but also significantly reducing waste from the upper-production process as well as costs. Taking a shot at Adidas, Parker said, “I'm not surprised at the admiration and the imitation it's generated.”
