Plaintiff
2 cases as plaintiff.
Kizik Design, LLC is a private American footwear company headquartered in Lindon, Utah. Founded in 2017, Kizik is a subsidiary of HandsFree Labs, Inc., a technology company that develops and patents hands-free footwear systems. Nike is a strategic investor in HandsFree Labs. As of 2023, the company was reportedly trending towards $150 million in annual sales and had around 120 employees.
Kizik is an operating company that designs, manufactures, and sells a variety of casual shoes for men, women, and children that feature its parent company's patented hands-free technology. This "step-in" technology, marketed as F.A.S.T. (Foot Activated Shoe Technology), uses mechanisms like a rebounding heel made of aerospace-grade titanium to allow a user to put on shoes without using their hands. The intellectual property is held by parent HandsFree Labs, which has a portfolio of over 200 patents and licenses the technology to other footwear companies, most notably Nike.
The company has adopted an assertive patent litigation posture to defend its technology. The provided data shows Kizik as a plaintiff in two patent infringement lawsuits, with no record of it being a defendant. Both suits were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, a popular venue for patent holders. This activity reflects an operating company actively enforcing its patent portfolio against competitors.
The two tracked cases are against footwear giant Skechers U.S.A., Inc. In these suits, Kizik Design, LLC is a co-plaintiff alongside its parent, HandsFree Labs, Inc., and an affiliated patent holding company, Fast IP, LLC. The litigation, filed in July 2025, alleges that Skechers' "Hands Free Slip-ins" shoe line willfully infringes upon multiple utility and design patents that protect the core innovations enabling Kizik's hands-free functionality.
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The plaintiffs allege that Skechers' "Hands Free Slip-ins" line of shoes infringes on six patents related to hands-free footwear technology. The complaint asserts that Skechers knowingly and willfully infringed on four utility patents and two design patents.
This case is active. Defendant Skechers U.S.A., Inc. has filed a petition for inter partes review (IPR) challenging the patent's validity, and the district court case may be stayed pending the outcome of that proceeding.