Last Tuesday, January 31, Nike filed a lawsuit against Lululemon in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that the Canadian company infringed three of its patents. In the lawsuit, Nike accuses four Lululemon athletic shoes of infringing its patents related to textile and design elements.

For this reason, Nike seeks through this lawsuit, a triple compensation for the alleged intentional infringement by the Canadian multinational, to ensure having suffered “economic damage and irreparable injury” by the sale of Lululemon of its Blissfeel, Chargefeel Low, Chargefeel Mid and Strongfeel models. Nike has been increasingly active in patent litigation, having sued the same company a year ago for patent infringement for its Mirror product and app, which helps users exercise at home through a combination of augmented reality and various health monitoring parameters.

At the time, Nike alleged that this violated a patent they had filed in 1983 for a device that measured things like how fast you ran, how far you had “traveled” during your workout and how many calories you had burned, for which, Lululemon defended itself in court although it recently asked the judge to stay the case.

It should be noted that Lululemon has grown strongly in the footwear segment, however, has not excelled in the sale of sports shoes, of which Nike is the leader, proof of this assertion is the latest collaboration launched with Tiffany & Co. as part of the anniversary celebration of the jewelry chain.

Due to the sports company’s leadership, in recent years Nike has filed several lawsuits for IP rights, as it is a strategy to dampen competition and encourage other companies to buy licenses. For example, in November 2021, Nike settled several lawsuits it had with Skechers. The oldest case dates back to 2016. In this lawsuit, there were eight different patents that it claimed were infringed, including Flyknit technology (technology that uses high-strength fibers to create lightweight uppers, with localized areas of support, stretch and breathability).

A month later, it filed a lawsuit against Adidas, with whom the company has had many ongoing battles, also for infringement of the Flyknit patent, however, the two companies reached a settlement in August 2022, although they continue to clash over other issues.

Finally and in response to the latest lawsuit filed by Nike, Lululemon’s stock could be affected further. For now, the stock has not responded negatively to the news. In fact, on the day the lawsuit was filed (January 30, 2023), it closed at $302.59. At the close of February 3, 2023, it had risen to $319.42.