Already, LLC v. Nike, Inc.

      In the Supreme Court case Already, LLC v. Nike, Inc., the two shoe companies were suing each other over the design of a shoe. Originally, Nike sued Already first, claiming that they took Nike's patented design of a shoe. Then Already counter sued Nike saying that they did not use their design and that the patent on the shoe was not valid since the patent expired in 2008. Right after Already sued Nike, Nike came back and decided to drop their suit and in addition to that, they said that they would not sue Already based on any future designs based on that patent. Even though Nike had dropped the suit against Already, Already continued with their suit because they thought that Nike said that they were not going to sue them ever again on this one specific shoe design. Already did not read it the right way because what Nike really said was that they would not sue Already in the future about any shoe design made. The Supreme Court decided in Nike's favor since their terms were so board, thus, resulting in Already having to dropped their suit. In the pictures below, you can see how similar the two shoe designs are to each other.

     In my opinion, I think that it was right for Nike to sue because even though their original patent had expired, it was still their design to begin with. I also think that Already could have just come up with a different design for the shoe since it was so identical to the Nike shoe. Once Already counter sued Nike, I think that Nike dropped their suit so fast because they knew that Already had a good case against them. It was also a smart move by Nike to make their terms for dropping the case so board, so that the Supreme Court would agree with them. This decision benefits Already greatly because now they can make almost any shoe design they want that is close to Nike's, and Nike cannot sue them for it. 

Sanchez, Robert. "Are We Done Yet? Nike Thinks It Is Already Time to Move On -IPLJ." IPLJ. Fordham University School of Law, 25 Nov. 2012. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.

 

Stonebrook, Ian. "U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Nike Trademark Case." Nice Kicks. N.p., 27 June 2012. Web. 22 Mar. 2013.