Apple Inc and Nike Inc were sued by a Colorado company accusing them of infringing a patent covering shoes that collect data on the wearer's activity in their Nike+iPod Sport Kit.
PhatRat Technology LLC, a maker of wireless devices that gauge a wearer's performance, said in a complaint on Thursday in Denver federal court that Apple and Nike are using its patented innovations without permission.
PhatRat asked for cash compensation and a court order blocking the use.
"PhatRat has been damaged by the infringing acts of Apple and Nike, and will continue to be damaged unless" they are stopped by the court, closely held PhatRat said.
Nike, the world's largest athletic-shoe company, and Apple, dominant in the digital music-player market, started selling the Nike+iPod Sport Kit in July.
A sensor and receiver let the shoes communicate with an iPod over a radio frequency so runners can learn their speed, such as 25km an hour, and pace, such as two minutes per kilometer. It costs US$29 and requires a special Nike shoe and an iPod Nano.
PhatRat, based in Niwot, Colorado, makes products such as the airRat, a device for measuring sports performance while snowboarding, skiing or riding a BMX bicycle, the company said on its Web site. The patent at issue is entitled "shoes employing monitoring devices, and associated methods."
"Nike is aware of the complaint and is reviewing the allegations alongside our own intellectual property rights," said Vada Manager, a spokesman for Beaverton, Oregon-based Nike.
PhatRat sued Apple in the same court in October, claiming the computer company infringed four patents in their Nike+iPod Sports Kit and iPod products.
On the other hand, Cisco Systems Inc and Apple declared a temporary truce on Friday in the legal battle over the iPhone trademark to give themselves until Feb. 15 to resolve the matter outside of court.
The Silicon Valley companies pushed back Apple's deadline for filing a response to the suit in US federal court in Northern California.
"Apple and Cisco have agreed to extend the time for Apple to respond to the lawsuit to allow for discussions between the companies with the aim of reaching agreement on trademark rights and interoperability," a joint statement read.
Cisco sued Apple last month after the maker of iPod MP3 players and Macintosh computers grandly launched an iPhone device with camera, digital music player and mobile telephone capabilities.
Cisco claimed it had obtained the trademark in 2000 after acquiring Infogear, which owned the iPhone name and had been selling products bearing that name for "several years."
SEEKING CLARITY: Washington should not adopt measures that create uncertainties for ‘existing semiconductor investments,’ TSMC said referring to its US$165 billion in the US Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) told the US that any future tariffs on Taiwanese semiconductors could reduce demand for chips and derail its pledge to increase its investment in Arizona. “New import restrictions could jeopardize current US leadership in the competitive technology industry and create uncertainties for many committed semiconductor capital projects in the US, including TSMC Arizona’s significant investment plan in Phoenix,” the chipmaker wrote in a letter to the US Department of Commerce. TSMC issued the warning in response to a solicitation for comments by the department on a possible tariff on semiconductor imports by US President Donald Trump’s
‘FAILED EXPORT CONTROLS’: Jensen Huang said that Washington should maximize the speed of AI diffusion, because not doing so would give competitors an advantage Nvidia Corp cofounder and chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) yesterday criticized the US government’s restrictions on exports of artificial intelligence (AI) chips to China, saying that the policy was a failure and would only spur China to accelerate AI development. The export controls gave China the spirit, motivation and government support to accelerate AI development, Huang told reporters at the Computex trade show in Taipei. The competition in China is already intense, given its strong software capabilities, extensive technology ecosystems and work efficiency, he said. “All in all, the export controls were a failure. The facts would suggest it,” he said. “The US
The government has launched a three-pronged strategy to attract local and international talent, aiming to position Taiwan as a new global hub following Nvidia Corp’s announcement that it has chosen Taipei as the site of its Taiwan headquarters. Nvidia cofounder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday last week announced during his keynote speech at the Computex trade show in Taipei that the Nvidia Constellation, the company’s planned Taiwan headquarters, would be located in the Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei. Huang’s decision to establish a base in Taiwan is “primarily due to Taiwan’s talent pool and its strength in the semiconductor
French President Emmanuel Macron has expressed gratitude to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) for its plan to invest approximately 250 million euros (US$278 million) in a joint venture in France focused on the semiconductor and space industries. On his official X account on Tuesday, Macron thanked Hon Hai, also known globally as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), for its investment projects announced at Choose France, a flagship economic summit held on Monday to attract foreign investment. In the post, Macron included a GIF displaying the national flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan), as he did for other foreign investors, including China-based
RSS