Nike Faces Trial in Trademark Suit Over ‘Cool Compression’

Nike Inc. failed to escape Lontex Corp.'s trademark infringement suit over its use of “cool compression” on athletic apparel, as a Pennsylvania federal judge said a jury must assess consumer confusion about the products and whether the words were used in a general, descriptive sense.

Lontex raises Lanham Act and state-law claims alleging Nike’s use of the words infringes on Lontex’s “cool compression” trademark. It alleges Nike sells its own confusingly similar cool compression apparel through retailers like Macy’s, Dick’s Sporting Goods, and Foot Locker.

The likelihood-of-confusion analysis in a trademark case is a fact-intensive inquiry, the U.S. District Court ...