Fast IP, LLC

Fast IP, LLC is a Utah-based limited liability company that operates as a non-practicing entity (NPE), also known as a patent assertion entity. Its principal place of business is in Lindon, Utah. Fast IP is the holding company for a portfolio of patents related to "hands-free" or "rapid-entry" footwear technology, which it asserts through litigation and licensing. It is part of a collective of affiliated Utah companies that includes the operating shoe company Kizik Design, LLC, and the licensing arm HandsFree Labs Licensing, LLC.

The company does not manufacture or sell products. Instead, its operations are centered on managing and asserting a patent portfolio of over 200 patents and applications related to hands-free footwear systems. The technology, developed by Kizik founder Michael Pratt, involves shoe designs that allow a user to step into them without using their hands, often using features like a rebounding heel structure. The intellectual property is licensed to third parties; notable licensees include Nike, Inc., which entered into a partnership with the affiliated HandsFree Labs in 2019.

Fast IP's patent-litigation posture is that of a patent enforcer. The company has no record as a defendant and has initiated litigation as a plaintiff to assert its patent rights, as reflected in the two tracked plaintiff cases. Both of these cases were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, a venue historically popular with patent plaintiffs.

The company's most notable legal actions are against footwear competitor Skechers U.S.A., Inc. In July 2025, Fast IP, along with its affiliates Kizik and HandsFree Labs Licensing, sued Skechers in Texas, alleging that Skechers' "Hands Free Slip-ins" shoe line infringes on multiple utility and design patents. The plaintiffs allege Skechers copied proprietary designs, including their "Cage" technology. Fast IP has also pursued parallel litigation against Skechers' European subsidiaries in the Unified Patent Court in Munich, Germany, based on a European patent. In response to the U.S. lawsuit, Skechers has filed petitions for inter partes review with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, challenging the validity of the asserted patents.