words // Brandon Richard
ESPN's Darren Rovell reports that Nike has been granted an injunction in its Flyknit patent infringement case against adidas. As you know, adidas introduced their own knit-based running shoe back in July, featuring similar technology and a somewhat rhyming Primeknit name. Per the temporary injunction, adidas must halt production and distribution of the Primeknit from their Germany-based factory.
Nike unveiled the Flyknit back in February and has since released training and racing versions of the shoe.
As part of the Olympic celebration, adidas released 2,012 pairs of the Primeknit in London in July. A wider launch was scheduled for this fall, but those plans are obviously on hold at the moment.
Nike issued the following statement on their official media site:
We are pleased the District Court in Nuremberg has granted our 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.
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.
More on this story as it develops.
