Nike puts pressure on Adidas with patents

By

Bruno Joly

Published
Jan 29, 2013

Nike has the upper hand on patents in Europe. Perhaps it can be seen a means to prepare for any eventual of potential lawsuits, like that of Apple and Samsung?

According to German publication Die Welt, who cited information from a study led by Grünecker, Nike registered 77% of all patents made by the five biggest sportswear brands between 2000 and 2010. Behind Nike is Adidas with 15%, followed by Puma (5%), Asics (2%) and Reebok (1%). In the past decade, Nike registered 650 patents in total at the European Patent Institute in Munich. The registered patents were for clothing, footwear and material innovations.

The DPA press agency has pointed out that in the past 20 years, the American Nike has registered 300 for footwear patents against just 56 for the Bavarian Adidas.