In my first posting for bloggingstocks back in June, I took note of the product collaboration between two of the world's most iconic brands -- Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Nike, Inc. (NYSE:NKE) -- to produce and market the Nike+iPod sports kit. In its first three months on the market, the sports kit sold over 450,000 units.
I am sure that this number has increased drastically since September given the number of music-oriented exercise fanatics out there. However, in a development that seems increasingly common in the personal tech space, a company called PhatRat Technology has dragged Apple and Nike into a Denver court claiming patent infringement.
PhatRat Technology, which makes its own range of wireless performance monitoring devices, claims the Nike+Apple sports kit uses patented biometric technologies for sports kit's data-collecting shoes for iPods.
The plaintiff is asking the courts to block the sales of the sports kit and demanding cash compensation. This doesn't bode well especially with the spring season fast approaching. Just when Apple ended its legal woes with the Beatles! Can the Cisco iPhone legal debacle be far behind?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
2-06-2007 @ 1:09PM
Mike Douglas said...
Classsic choose-to-loose, of course some company that is unable to execute/market a similar product will sue when a leviathan such as aapl lurches into their "brilliant idea". Look at Creative, nice product, I'm loosing sleep, [sob]. Smart move by "PhatRat", they're done anyhow. Either they'll get a few bucks to stop bitching or their attorneys will sell their children in bankook to recover the legal fees.