By
Reuters
Published
Jul 20, 2023
Nike was sued in Boston federal court on Monday by an inventor who claims the Beaverton, Oregon clothing giant stole her technology for a line of sports bras with pockets.
Sherry Goff’s SherryWear LLC said in the lawsuit that Goff pitched her patented Pocket Bra to Nike starting in 2015, and that the company later used her inventions without permission in its “Swoosh” athletic bras with pockets for a wearer’s belongings.
Representatives for Nike did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, which accuses the company of infringing eight patents.
A spokesperson for SherryWear’s law firm Caldwell IP Law said in a statement that they are confident in the patent system’s ability to “empower small businesses, such as SherryWear, to protect the innovative ideas they dedicate substantial resources and effort towards.”
Goff’s SherryWear told the court that it received patents starting in 2016 covering her Pocket Bra, which “allows women to keep their most precious possessions close, convenient, and safe in a comfortable and fashionable manner.”
The lawsuit said Goff contacted several Nike employees to pitch her invention, and that she sent a Nike executive a list of SherryWear’s relevant patents and applications at his request in 2017.
SherryWear said Nike declined to collaborate soon after and began applying for its own patents for bras with storage pockets less than two months later.
The lawsuit said Goff discovered that Nike was selling infringing bras in 2019. It said the company never responded to letters she sent that outlined the alleged infringement.
SherryWear asked the court for an unspecified amount of money damages.
The case is SherryWear LLC v. Nike Inc, U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, No. 1:23-cv-11599.
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