Complaint Identifies Several Adidas Products as Infringing Upon Nike Patent; Nike Also Serves Complaints Upon Two Other Companies During World Shoe Association Show in Las Vegas BEAVERTON, Ore., Feb. 16 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In its continuing effort to protect its product innovations and investment in research and development, Nike today filed a legal complaint against Adidas-Salomon in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990818/NIKELOGO ) 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 maximize stability and performance of the shoe. Despite Nike's patent protection, Adidas has built shoes that use Nike's technology. "Nike is widely recognized for its product innovation in footwear and athletic products and we invest heavily to provide performance products to our consumers. It is deeply frustrating and inappropriate when companies borrow or refashion such technologies as their own without making similar investments," said Eric Sprunk, Vice President, Global Footwear, Nike, Inc. As an example of Nike's commitment to innovation, Sprunk referenced the Air Max 360, the company's latest offering in its transformative line of Nike Air footwear that originally debuted in 1979. Using a patented manufacturing process called "thermoforming" the Air Max 360 shoe has a foamless mid-sole that features a superior cushioning system and has already shown promising future applications for athletic footwear performance. Similarly, Nike's SHOX cushioning technology, which debuted in 2000, is protected by 19 or more separate patents on its unique cushioning system and required 16 years of development and considerable financial investment to transition it into the athletic footwear marketplace. "Nike often reinvests its revenues into research and development of such new products. Understandably, Nike and its shareholders cannot allow infringement to occur unchallenged," added Sprunk. 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. Copies of the full complaints in any of the above matters can be downloaded from http://www.nikebiz.com/. About NIKE, Inc. NIKE, Inc. based near Beaverton, Oregon is the world's leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Wholly-owned Nike subsidiaries include Converse Inc., which designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear, apparel and accessories; NIKE Bauer Hockey Inc., a leading designer and distributor of hockey equipment; Cole Haan, a leading designer and marketer of luxury shoes, handbags, accessories and coats; Hurley International LLC, which designs, markets and distributes action sports and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories and Exeter Brands Group LLC, which designs and markets athletic footwear and apparel for the value retail channel. FCMN Contact: Alexis.Patterson@nike.com http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/19990818/NIKELOGO http://photoarchive.ap.org/ DATASOURCE: NIKE, Inc. CONTACT: Vada O. Manager, Director, Global Issues Management of NIKE, Inc., +1-503 671-2875, or fax, +1-503-671-4195 Web site: http://www.nikeresponsibility.com/ Web site: http://www.nike.com/ Web site: http://www.nikebiz.com/

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