Hope Nike loses, too many patents are straight up anti-competition and lead to a stagnation in innovation
Hope Nike loses, too many patents are straight up anti-competition and lead to a stagnation in innovation
This thread is useless without pictures (of the patents) and a link to the actual complaint.
Several brands in Portland patent pretty much anything they come up with that is unique, novel, nonobvious. There are extreme nuances to the "ideas" they are patenting even if they are really just a small improvement from a widespread and existing technology. They can patent a very specific part of the manufacturing process, maybe a machine modification to achieve a end-product, or even the final assembly techniques.
Some of the more patent-heavy brands are of course Nike, Adidas, and (believe it or not) Under Armour.
I bet many of these brands being litigated against didn't even realize they were violating a patent and just happened to independently come up with the same solution after Nike had already patented it. It's unfortunately commonplace and can make risk-averse brands even more conservative in their research & development. Or, brands like Skechers have budget set aside to settle patent litigation. It's their part of their business model.
Industry giants can afford millions of dollars in the legal work required to file patents with the hopes that it can block smaller brands from innovating or growing. Luckily, there are requirements to file a patent so somebody can't just come around and patent everything under the sun.
I thought Adidas and Nike had simultaneously patented the knit technology and Nike had tried to sue Adidas but lost.
That generally means the patent was valid...