EPO Board Confirms Nike Patent Revocation in Adidas Dispute

2017/10/12

A European Patent Office (EPO) board of appeal has confirmed that a Nike patent protecting breathable sports tops is invalid. Adidas had opposed the patent, EP 1 746 909, which protects a garment with “zones of different air permeability which are to be determined using a certain measurement device”, according to Adidas’s representative Bardehle Pagenberg. In 2013, the EPO’s opposition division revoked the patent because tops made by Adidas had been shown to have already used the measurement device described in the claims. The law firm announced the news on October 6, but the ruling was made last month.

Source: WIPR