A Utah-based shoe company, Leaper Footwear, has filed suit against Apple and Nike over the Nike+iPod Sport Kit. According to documents filed in Utah's District Court, Leaper's founders, Greg and Kenny Anderson, claim they invented in 1995 and successfully patented in 1998 a footwear device that measures performance parameters such as a users walking or running speed and/or distance traveled. They claim the Nike+iPod Sport Kit co-developed by Nike and Apple violates the 1998 patent. According to their complaint, Leapers counsel sent a letter to Nike in 2000 suggesting Nike license the Anderson's patent and incorporate their invention into Nike shoes. Nike reportedly wrote back two weeks later, stating it had “no interest” in pursuing the idea.
“Six years later,” the suit continues, “in May 2006, acting on Leapers suggestion but without contacting or seeking permission from Leaper to use the patent, Nike and Apple jointly announced their partnership to launch Leapers invention through the 'Nike + iPod Sport Kit.” As a result, the Andersons allege, Nike and Apple have generated “hundreds of millions of dollars in infringing sales” of iPod nanos, Nike + shoes, and Nike + iPod Sport Kits, “easily exposing them to liability in the tens of millions of dollars” for their alleged infringement of Leapers patent. “It is further believed that Nike and Apples infringement has spawned additional revenues through sales of products related to the Nike + iPod system, such as the Nike Amp + bracelet,” the suit adds. The brothers are seeking damages in the amount to be determined at trial, and a permanent injunction barring Apple and Nike from further infringement on their patent. In January, Colorado-based PhatRat Technology filed a similar suit, charging both companies with infringing on four of its own patents.
