Sporting Goods & Recreation

If it can be played, ridden or worn, chances are good that Knobbe Martens has helped our clients to protect it. Our Sporting Goods and Recreation group represents a wide variety of businesses, designers, developers and distributors involved in practically every type of sport, including cycling, golf, tennis, in-line skating, soccer, skateboarding, volleyball, ice hockey, field hockey, roller hockey, surfing, skiing, snowboarding and wakeboarding. We also represent a number of athletes who particulate in a diverse array of traditional and action sports, including skateboarders, surfers, basketball players, football players and Olympians.

Innovators and athletes rely upon our attorneys for veteran strategic legal advice, honed business insight and focused market guidance. Clients depend upon the firm for comprehensive legal counsel in all aspects of intellectual property, including counsel pertaining to patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade dress, rights of publicity, unfair competition, trade secrets, advertising, domain name registration and acquisition, brand protection, acquisitions and IP licensing.

In addition, we are valued for our significant experience and proven success in enforcing and protecting IP rights through litigation in state and federal courts and in advocacy before administrative agencies, including post grant and inter partes reviews at the U.S. Patent Office. We also work closely with trade, law enforcement and customs agencies to block, seize or impound infringing or counterfeit goods.

Representative Engagements

Our attorneys have experience in all areas of sporting goods and recreation, a sampling of which includes cycling, golf, skateboarding, tennis and snow, water and shooting sports, as well as games and game controllers, personal mobility vehicles, skateboarding, virtual and augmented reality, and sports apparel, eyewear, toys and beverages. A selection of representative clients include:

Air Chair

BatCozy (Baseball Equipment)

Bowers & Wilkins (Speakers)

Bravo Sports (Skateboards)

Cobalt Boats

Denon (Speakers)

Dorsal Fins (Surfing Equipment)

Enhance Pickleball (Pickleball Equipment)

EZ UP (Collapsible Canopies)

Fix Manufacturing LLC (Belt Buckle with Integrated Multi-tool)

Full Swing Golf (Golf Simulators)

Hawaiian Island Creations (Surfboards)

Hobie Designs (Surfboards, Skateboards, Water Skis, Wake Boards)

Keiser Corporation (Stationary Exercise Equipment)

Kneissl Tirol GmbH (Ski Equipment)

Malibu Boats (Wakesurfing Boats and Equipment)

Marko Products (Surfboard Blanks)

Masimo Consumer (Body Monitors)

Master Industries (Equipment for Bowling)

Monkey Sports/Hockey Monkey (Retailer of Sporting Goods and Apparel)

My Ocean Life (Surfboards, Skateboards, Snow Boards, Paddle Boards)

Oakley (Eyewear, Shoes, Apparel)

Orange County Great Park (Park and Recreation Services)

Pacific Adventure Works (In-vehicle Collapsible Sleeping Platforms)

Polk (Speakers)

RainGlobes (Novelty Cityscape RainGlobes)

Razor USA (Scooters, Pogo Sticks, Bicycles, Skateboards, Roller Skates)

Rokform (Mountable Phone Cases)

Rusty Surfboards (Surfboards)

Ryan Sheckler/Sheckler Merch (Skateboards)

Seajet Propulsion (Motorized Kayaks and Surfboards and Other Personalized Watercraft)

Specialized Bicycle (Bicycles, Cycling Gear and Apparel)

Summer Teeth/Dane Reynolds (Sporting Goods, Beach Accessories)

The Behemoth (Skateboard Decks)

The Lodge at Torrey Pines (Health Spa Services)

Wave Loch/Light Wave (FLOWRIDER Wave Pools)

Winn (Grips for Golf Clubs and Tennis Racquets)

Successes

American Sporting Goods Trademark Portfolio

Knobbe Martens has served as lead trademark counsel for all of American Sporting Goods’ (AVIA, RYKA) and Basketball Marketing Company’s (AND1) United States trademark matters. We handled a sponsorship agreement between Basketball Marketing Company and the “Morris Twins” (aka Markieff Morris and Markus Morris) star basketball players picked 13th and 14th in the 2011 NBA draft. Our firm served as lead counsel in an exemplary trademark enforcement matter in 2011 (Formula One Licensing v. Basketball Marketing Company), where we negotiated a favorable worldwide settlement to resolve numerous oppositions worldwide by Formula One against our client, Basketball Marketing Company’s, trademark filings for the mark.

In the Matter of Certain Personal Watercraft and Components

Represented Yamaha in an ITC investigation against Bombardier Inc. on Yamaha’s watercraft patents. The case progressed through a four-week hearing before the ALJ. Just before the ALJ’s initial determination was issued, the parties settled.

AMP BED X-TENDER

Knobbe Martens was instrumental in securing patent protection for AMP Research's BED X-TENDER product, used to increase the effective length of pick-up trucks. The firm has worked with AMP to develop and implement a strategy that has resulted in Specialized being granted over 17 U.S. patents for key aspects of the BED X-TENDER technology. We also successfully negotiated a license agreement with a major Tier One supplier, resulting in AMP receiving millions of dollars in royalties while remaining free to continue to sell the BED X-TENDER in the aftermarket.

In addition, our firm asserted the BED X-TENDER patents on behalf of AMP in patent infringement litigation in which it obtained summary judgment of infringement against E-Z Load, which later resulted in AMP securing a permanent injunction and a final judgment awarding AMP damages equal to 25% of gross sales, as well as attorneys’ fees.

Andy Irons Trademark Portfolio

Knobbe Martens has advised on trademark, copyright and licensing matters on behalf of the estate of the legendary surfer, Andy Irons. This includes developing, implementing and managing a strategic plan for worldwide protection of the Andy Iron trademark portfolio, overseeing licensing agreements with large scale clothing partners, strategizing on brand extensions, and managing copyright protection for artwork created in honor of the late surfer’s legend.

Specialized Bicycle: Horst Link Bicycle Suspension

Knobbe Martens was instrumental in securing patent protection on one of mountain biking's most fundamental suspension designs, the Horst Link Four Bar Suspension. After other law firms were unable to convince the U.S. Patent Office as to the patentability of the Horst Link suspension, we were successful in securing three patents for the technology. The Horst Link patents became one of the cornerstones of Specialized Bicycle’s IP portfolio.

Specialized has successfully used the Horst Link patents through both licensing and litigation to achieve its business goals. Specialized brought suit against Jamis, dba Pacific Cycle, for infringement of the Horst Link patents based on the sale of its line of Mongoose Bicycles. Specialized’s suit resulted in Jamis agreeing to pay SBC for past infringement and redesign its Mongoose bicycle suspension. Similarly, Specialized sued Scott for infringement of the three Horst Link patents to prevent the infringement of the Horst Link patents based on the sale of Scott's Genius line of bicycles. This lawsuit resulted in Scott agreeing to fundamentally redesign its bicycle suspension.

Specialized Bicycle: The Brain

One of the other cornerstones of Specialized Bicycle's IP portfolio is the patents for its groundbreaking BRAIN front fork and rear shock absorber technology. The BRAIN technology is the "holy grail" of mountain biking in that it enables a mountain bike to act as a hard tail during heaving pedaling while still providing full suspension over downhill bumps and impacts.

The firm worked with Specialized to develop and implement a strategy that resulted in Specialized being granted over 25 U.S. and foreign patents for key aspects of its BRAIN technology. The existence of this significant patent portfolio has successfully deterred major competitors from copying Specialized's technology.

We also successfully asserted BRAIN technology patents in litigation regarding OnSport, LLC. This litigation resulted in the issuance of a permanent injunction against OnSport, as well as an award of treble damages and attorneys’ fees.

Specialized Bicycle Components: Specialized Bicycle Body Geometry Saddles

Knobbe Martens was instrumental in securing patent protection for Specialized’s Bicycle Body Geometry line Bicycle Saddles when another firm was unable to persuade the Patent Office of the patentability of the breakthrough saddle design.

After securing this patent protection, we worked with Specialized Bicycle to develop and implement an enforcement strategy against what had become the widespread copying of the technology by the bicycle industry. This strategy resulted in virtually all bicycle and bicycle saddle manufacturers respecting Specialized Bicycle's patent rights in the technology after a relatively short period.

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