Will shoes and spikes become more expensive?

On June 14, 2007 Greenkeepers sued Acushnet and Softspikes for patent infringement of USPN 6530162 titled “Sports Shoe Cleats.”
 
What is this lawsuit all about? Well, basically an angled arrangement of flexible teeth extending from the base of the cleat to enhance lateral stability. Perhaps these figures will help.

This is not the first patent litigation action regarding the ‘162 patent. In fact, Greenkeepers sued Nike and MacNeill Engineering (maker of Champ spikes) back in August of 2004. The lawsuit against Nike and Champ was suspended while the ‘162 patent was the subject of a reexamination proceeding before the USPTO.

Interestingly, Greenkeepers had the ‘162 reexamined prior to filing this suit in an effort to strengthen their position and broaden the claims of the patent. They were successful and probably feel pretty confident about the validity of the ‘162 patent and the soon to be issued reissue patent. Upon receiving the news from the USPTO that they would be granted the reissue patent, Greenkeepers immediately informed the court in the Nike and Champ case and filed the infringement action against Acushnet and Softspikes.

I suspect that there is a fair amount of money at stake in these cases! It should be interesting.

David Dawsey - Monitoring Golf Litigation