Introduction
The sports equipment industry generates hundreds of billions of dollars annually worldwide, prompting companies and inventors to develop innovative products aimed at increasing those numbers each year.1[1]Persistent Market Research, Sports Equipment Market set to Surpass US178.50 Billion by 2033, Yahoo Finance (Aug. 7, 2023), https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sports-equipment-market-set-surpass-142100364.html When a new, useful, and non-obvious training aid or piece of equipment is created, the inventor has the advantage of protecting their invention through a patent.2[2]Jochen M. Schafer, IP and Sports Products: An Inseparable Symbiosis, World Intellectual Property Organization, https://www.wipo.int/ip-outreach/en/ipday/2019/intellectual_property_sports_products.html Patents allow an inventor to protect their invention so that no competitor can use or steal the idea for their own equipment.3[3]Id. This affords the inventor the opportunity to profit off their new invention which, in theory, gives inventors the incentive to continue to create or invest in innovative products in the future.4[4]Id. By granting innovative products patent protection, it allows for positive competition within a product marketplace that benefits consumers.5[5]Id.
Patents play a major role in the lifecycle of products that we use on a daily basis. This article will discuss what a patent is, previous infringement cases to help demonstrate their impact regarding the development of sports equipment, and lastly, the importance of patents in the world of sports.
What is a Patent
So what is the function of a patent? In a simplified description, a patent gives the inventor the right to exclude others from making, using, offering for sale, or selling an invention.6[6]United States Patent and Trademark Office, https://www.uspto.gov/patents/basics/essentials#questions A patent does not grant the inventor the right to make, use, offer for sale, or sell the invention, but it does grant the right to prevent others from doing so.7[7]Id. Patent protection lasts for 20 years, and upon expiration, anyone has the legal right to use the invention as they so choose.8[8]World Intellectual Property Organization, https://www.wipo.int/sme/en/patents.html
Patent protection is granted only to inventions that are new, useful and provide a significant improvement over creations that already exist.9[9]35 U.S.C. § 101(1952). An owner who receives patent protection over their invention will then gain total control over that invention in all aspects of the invention’s life.10[10]Id.Patents are exclusive rights granted for the benefit of two groups: (1) the inventor of the invention that receives patents and (2) the public.11[11]Id. Inventors are benefited by patents because it gives them legal protection over their invention.12[12]Supra, note 8. Society benefits from patents because they provide further technical information behind the mechanics of inventions by breaking down how they work, which can lead to further innovation.13[13]Id.
Importance of Patents in Sports
As technology develops, sports equipment advances as well. These sports equipment advancements will inevitably create the need for more products to be protected by patents. With the correct use of the rights that intellectual property awards to creators, those rights can significantly grow the economics of the sporting industry.14[14]Id. Patents rooted in sports equipment contribute to promoting athletic performance, health and safety measures, and sport inclusivity. Sports, as an industry, have been able to grow thanks to the help of inventions that are backed by patents.15[15]Vitor Sérgio Moreira, The Role of Patents in Sports, Inventa (June 19, 2019), https://inventa.com/en/news/article/415/the-role-of-patents-in-sports
Innovative products have routinely replaced outdated equipment which allows athletes to maximize their potential.16[16]Id. One major example of the countless recent innovative products developed within the sporting equipment industry has been aided from the tech minds at AT&T.17[17]AT&T 5G Helmet Empowers Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing Athletes, AT&T (Dec. 10, 2023), https://about.att.com/sites/accessibility/stories/5g-helmet. Innovative ideas and technology has led AT&T to invent a football helmet that has the “opportunity to change the game forever.”18[18]Id.This helmet allows for real-time communication between deaf and hard-of-hearing football players and their coaches that will level the playing field.19[19]Id. The helmet is fitted with augmented reality that then projects real-time information into the player’s view through a small visor inside of their helmet.20[20]Id. This groundbreaking technology is just one of many major innovative products supported by patents that help grow sports through inclusivity and accessibility, aside from enhancing player performance and recovery in and out of the game.
Past Infringement Lawsuits and Why Patent Protection is Important
When searching for the right choice of sports equipment that will help athletes perform at their best, there are a wide variety of options on the market for nearly every type of sporting good. Due to the numerous producers of sporting equipment, many companies must find innovative ways to help their product stand out in a vast market of sporting goods.
Such is the case for TaylorMade, one of the largest producers of golf equipment. Back in 2017, TaylorMade debuted their P790 irons with the objective of revolutionizing the golf iron by incorporating various technologies that would improve players “distance, feel, forgiveness, and playability”21[21]Complaint for Petitioner, TaylorMade Golf Co., Inc. v. Costco Wholesale Corp., No. 3:24-cv-00212 (Cal. Dist. Ct. 2024) https://insight.rpxcorp.com/litigation_documents/15551329 – simply put, the technology put into the P790 irons would help golfers in all phases of their iron game. Over time, TaylorMade continued to refine the design of their P790 irons which eventually led to them receiving a patent on the irons in 2019 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”).22[22]Id at 5. Fast forward to 2023, where Costco – known in the golf world for providing golf equipment at a fraction of the price of the big name producers in golf, like TaylorMade – began selling Kirkland Signature brand golf iron sets.23[23]Id at 8.
Upon further investigation, in 2024 TaylorMade sued Costco and their Kirkland Signature golf irons for violating TaylorMade’s patent surrounding their P790 irons.24[24]Supra, note 21. TaylorMade believes that the design and engineering of Costco’s Kirkland irons directly infringe on their company’s patent.25[25]Id. TaylorMade’s complaint centers around two arguments: (1) the Kirkland irons “copy many features and technologies” from their P790 irons, and (2) Costco falsely advertised to the public how the irons were constructed.26[26]Id. at 8. As to these claims, TaylorMade states that Costco’s website notes how their irons are “built for distance and forgiveness…injected with urethane insert, and an internal tungsten weight for optimal launch, forgiveness, and playability.”27[27]Id. TaylorMade believes that the Kirkland irons in fact do not contain the urethane insert, thus making the statement on Costco’s website literally false or at the very least misleading.28[28]Id at 11. Due to these claims, TaylorMade believes that this false information has led consumers to believe that the products made by Costco are similar to those made by TaylorMade which directly correlates to Costco infringing on TaylorMade’s patent.29[29]Id. Currently, TaylorMade is still awaiting the court’s decision on this matter which they hope will support their claims of patent infringement.
Patent infringement claims emerge throughout all facets of the sporting goods world. While TaylorMade and Costco’s dispute was over the equipment used by players during the sport, a slightly different dispute arose when Peloton initiated an infringement suit against Flywheel over the technology used in their at-home training bikes.30[30] Complaint for Petitioner, Peloton Interactive, Inc. v. Flywheel Sports, Inc., No. 2:18-cv-00390 (E.D. Tex. 2018). In their 2018 complaint, Peloton claimed Flywheel infringed upon their patented at-home bike by making and selling a bike of their own, the “Fly Anywhere Bike”, that displayed a screen with the technology of streaming cycling classes to remote riders while also tracking their performance to compare to other riders taking the class as well.31[31]Id. at 15-16. Peloton alleged that the technological services that Flywheel provided to its at-home riders was a direct infringement on the patents in which Peloton obtained in years prior to the suit.32[32]Id.
Two years after the commencement of the lawsuit, the two parties agreed on a settlement in which Flywheel admitted to infringing on Peloton’s patents in the use of their at-home Fly Anywhere bike.33[33]Settlement Agreement, Peloton Interactive, Inc. v. Flywheel Sports, Inc., No. 2:18-cv-00390-RWS-RSP (E.D. Tex. 2018) https://www.hueston.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/FWSettlement.pdf The terms of the settlement stated that: (1) Flywheel now admits that the Peloton patents are valid and enforceable, (2) Flywheel admits that Flywheel’s Fly Anywhere Bike and associated services infringe the Peloton patents as alleged by Peloton in the Complaint; that Flywheel copied elements of the Peloton bike in developing its Fly Anywhere Bike; and that, to the best of Flywheel’s knowledge, Peloton’s “at home” / “remote streaming” patented leaderboard technology was not created or invented by Flywheel, and (3) Flywheel agrees that within 60 days it will stop infringing Peloton’s patented technology.34[34]Id.
Patents pertaining to sports equipment are very much the same as a patent concerning any other product. However, what makes patents in the world of sports intriguing is the idea that many innovative products are designed with the thought of improving the health and safety of the competitors and also the fact that athletes rely on these products in efforts to break achievements.
Conclusion
Because of patents, manufacturers financially gain from innovative inventions which benefits the athletes using the products, as the equipment being produced is made with the intention of enhancing performance.35[35]Sports and Technology, World Intellectual Property Organization, https://www.wipo.int/web/sports/technology The never-ending cycle of innovation will help continue this trend thanks to the numerous advantages that patents award, especially in the continuously evolving world of sports where players are always looking at ways on how to better outperform their competition. The role patents play in sports is necessary to preserve the reliability of the equipment trusted by athletes to help them perform at their best. In doing so, consumers receive the true gift of enjoying sports to their full potential by bringing people closer, whether it be watching or playing together.
Written by: Matthew Bereche
Matthew is a 2025 J.D. Candidate at Brooklyn Law School.
[1] Persistent Market Research, Sports Equipment Market set to Surpass US178.50 Billion by 2033, Yahoo Finance (Aug. 7, 2023), https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sports-equipment-market-set-surpass-142100364.html.
[2] Jochen M. Schafer, IP and Sports Products: An Inseparable Symbiosis, World Intellectual Property Organization, https://www.wipo.int/ip-outreach/en/ipday/2019/intellectual_property_sports_products.html.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] United States Patent and Trademark Office, https://www.uspto.gov/patents/basics/essentials#questions
[7] Id.
[8] World Intellectual Property Organization, https://www.wipo.int/sme/en/patents.html.
[9] 35 U.S.C. § 101(1952).
[10] Id.
[11] Id.
[12] Supra, note 8.
[13] Id.
[14] Id.
[15] Vitor Sérgio Moreira, The Role of Patents in Sports, Inventa (June 19, 2019), https://inventa.com/en/news/article/415/the-role-of-patents-in-sports
[16] Id.
[17] AT&T 5G Helmet Empowers Deaf & Hard-of-Hearing Athletes, AT&T (Dec. 10, 2023), https://about.att.com/sites/accessibility/stories/5g-helmet
[18] Id.
[19] Id.
[20] Id.
[21] Complaint for Petitioner, TaylorMade Golf Co., Inc. v. Costco Wholesale Corp., No. 3:24-cv-00212 (Cal. Dist. Ct. 2024) https://insight.rpxcorp.com/litigation_documents/15551329
[22] Id at 5.
[23] Id at 8.
[24] Supra, note 21.
[25] Id.
[26] Id at 8.
[27] Id.
[28] Id at 11.
[29] Id.
[30] Complaint for Petitioner, Peloton Interactive, Inc. v. Flywheel Sports, Inc., No. 2:18-cv-00390 (E.D. Tex. 2018).
[31] Id at 15-16.
[32] Id.
[33] Settlement Agreement, Peloton Interactive, Inc. v. Flywheel Sports, Inc., No. 2:18-cv-00390-RWS-RSP (E.D. Tex. 2018) https://www.hueston.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/FWSettlement.pdf.
[34] Id.
[35] Sports and Technology, World Intellectual Property Organization, https://www.wipo.int/web/sports/technology.
