By:  LINDSEY O’NEILL, ESQ.

Nike and Wal-Mart are back in court battling it out over shoe designs.  Nike claims that Wal-Mart illegally copied its cushioned shoe design and has sued Wal-Mart for design patent infringement. (If you’re interested, you can read the complaint yourself!)  Nike’s design patents at issue are patents D498,914 and D499,248.   Normally, I need to ask my patent lawyer friends what this stuff actually means…  but the Nike’s complaint does a good job of illustrating just how Wal-mart allegedly copied the shoe designs. 

Remember – if you’ve invented something, you should seek counsel from a good patent attorney.  Patent protection is very strong.  Although, as the Nike case shows, obtaining a patent is only the first step.  You must enforce your patent to fully protect your rights, which usually means you have to take legal action against infringers.   

Contact an attorney for more information about how you can protect and enforce your intellectual property rights.  Generally, patent lawyers protect your inventions, trademark attorneys protect your brands, and copyright attorneys protect your written works (including books, lyrics, and even software code).