Plaintiff
6 cases as plaintiff.
Company overview. PUMA North America, Inc. is the U.S. subsidiary of PUMA SE, the German sportswear group headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria. PUMA SE traces its founding to 1948 (Rudolf Dassler) and is publicly listed on the Frankfurt/XETRA exchange (ticker PUM). The North American subsidiary is based at 455 Grand Union Blvd., Somerville, Massachusetts, a 150,000-sq-ft headquarters opened in 2021 that consolidated prior Boston and Westford offices; PUMA projected roughly 450–550 positions there. Consolidated PUMA SE figures for FY2024 were about €8.82 billion in sales with roughly 18,700 employees on average (PUMA Annual Report 2024). The subsidiary's own incorporation date and standalone financials are not publicly disclosed.
Products / services. PUMA designs, develops, markets and sells athletic footwear, apparel and accessories — running, training, basketball, soccer/football, motorsport, golf and sportswear — through wholesale accounts, owned retail stores, factory outlets and e-commerce. PUMA SE also licenses selected categories (e.g., eyewear, safety footwear, gaming accessories) to third parties. This is an operating company, not a patent-assertion entity.
Patent-litigation posture. The case data show a two-way commercial competitor dispute, not NPE activity: five plaintiff-side matters and one defendant-side matter, all involving Nike and all clustered in 2018–2019. The five "plaintiff" filings are inter partes review petitions at the PTAB challenging Nike footwear patents (knitted uppers, fluid-filled bladders, cleat base plates). The single defendant case is Nike, Inc. v. PUMA North America, Inc., No. 1:18-cv-10876-LTS (D. Mass., filed May 3, 2018). No cases appear in Eastern District of Texas-type venues.
Notable cases / context. Nike's May 2018 complaint asserted seven utility patents covering Flyknit uppers, Nike Air, and cleat assembly against PUMA products including the IGNITE Proknit and Jamming; the court denied PUMA's §101 motion to dismiss in October 2018. PUMA responded with a wave of IPRs, including IPR2019-01042 (U.S. 9,314,065) and IPR2019-01058 (U.S. 10,051,917); the Board's denial of institution in the '065 petition was later designated informative on §325(d), and several proceedings terminated by settlement in December 2019. The docket entry "PUMA North America, Inc. v. Meir, Adrian et al." (IPR2019-01190) concerns Nike's U.S. 10,070,679, whose named inventor is Adrian Meir.
Inter partes review petition filed by PUMA North America, Inc. challenging U.S. Patent No. 10,098,411 B2 owned by Nike, Inc.; the proceeding was terminated by settlement on December 3, 2019, before a final written decision.
PUMA North America filed an inter partes review petition challenging claim 1 of U.S. Patent 10,070,679. The Board terminated the proceeding as settled on December 3, 2019, after a joint motion based on a confidential settlement agreement.
PUMA North America filed an inter partes review petition challenging U.S. 9,375,046. The proceeding was terminated as settled on December 3, 2019, with no final written decision on the merits.
PUMA North America, Inc. filed an inter partes review petition against Nike, Inc. challenging U.S. Patent No. 6,973,746. The Board instituted review on October 31, 2019, but the parties jointly moved to terminate based on a confidential settlement, and the proceeding was terminated on December 3, 2019 before a merits decision.
PUMA North America, Inc. filed an inter partes review petition against NIKE, Inc. challenging claims 1-14 of U.S. Patent No. 10,051,917 B2. The PTAB instituted trial on all challenged claims and grounds on October 31, 2019, and terminated the proceeding by settlement on December 3, 2019.
PUMA North America, Inc. filed an inter partes review challenging claims 1-6 of U.S. 9,314,065. The Board denied institution on October 31, 2019 under 35 U.S.C. § 325(d); the decision was later designated Informative on March 24, 2020.