Adidas sues US rival Under Armour over patent infringement
05 Feb 2014
German sports goods manufacturer Adidas AG has sued its smaller US rival Under Armour Inc, for infringing its exercise tracking and fitness monitoring patents.
Under the lawsuit filed yesterday at the US District Court in Delaware, Adidas alleges that Under Armour's newly acquired company MapMyFitness infringed on ten patents related to technology used in its mobile fitness miCoach brand products.
Under Armour had acquired MapMyFitness last November for $150 million.
The lawsuit alleges UnderArmour is using Adidas patents in UnderArmour39 products, including chest straps, watches and other software and mobile applications, and MapMyFitness heart-rate monitor, among others.
Adidas, based in Bavaria, wants the court to issue an order stopping Under Armour from wilfully infringing its patents and award reasonable royalty and damages.
Adidas claims that Under Armour had direct knowledge of its patent portfolio since Under Armour's director of research was a senior engineering manager at Adidas.
Adidas is the world's second-largest sports goods maker after Nike Inc.
