Court Gives Nike 2nd Chance on Sneaker Patents

• Holding:
  Nike to get another shot at defending patents at PTAB, but prospects not strong.
• Takeaway:
  Some insights for patent owners trying to amend claims in court’s third jab at PTAB’s inadequate opinions in as many weeks.

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board must provide more support for its judgment that Nike’s desired patent claims are unpatentable, according to a Feb. 11 opinion of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Nike, Inc. v. Adidas AG, Fed. Cir., 2014-1719, 2/11/16).

Responding to Adidas AG’s inter partes review challenge, Nike was willing to cancel all its patent ...