Nike Inc, the world’s largest shoe company, announced on Thursday that it has filed a patent infringement suit against Adidas-Salomon, claiming that a number of Adidas’s trainer shoes infringed Nike’s “SHOX cushioning” patents. Nike has also served complaints against two other companies, Air Max Import and Export Inc and Romeo and Juliette, for allegedly infringing on Nike’s intellectual property and patents.
Nike, the world’s largest sportswear manufacturer, claims it has 19 separate patents protecting its SHOX system. Adidas, the second biggest sportswear manufacturer, completed its takeover of Reebok last month, paying $3.8bn for the US firm to step up its competition with Nike and improve its market share in North America. Adidas said on Friday afternoon that it was “currently examining the content of the complaint with our legal advisers and therefore we cannot comment any further”.
