Nike has filed a legal complaint against adidas-Salomon in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. The complaint identifies several top adidas products that infringe upon Nike's patented Shox cushioning technology. These infringing products include shoes using adidas' a3 cushioning system, including the new Kevin Garnett signature shoe and its Adidas_1 footwear.

The Nike patent protects technical columnar design features of the Shox system that maximise stability and performance of the shoe. Despite Nike's patent protection, Nike claims that adidas has built shoes that use its technology.

During last week's World Shoe Association Show in Las Vegas, Nike also served complaints on two other companies infringing on Nike's intellectual property and patents. Those companies, Air Max Import and Export Inc. and Romeo and Juliette had previously come to Nike's attention regarding violations of Nike's patent rights.