Adidas sues Under Armour over patent infringement

(Reuters) - German sportswear maker Adidas sued Under Armour Inc in a U.S. court over alleged infringement of patents governing fitness training and tracker devices, a court filing showed. The lawsuit relates to products sold by fitness technology company MapMyFitness, which Under Armour bought for $150 million in November. miCoach fitness training devices manufactured by Adidas offer real-time audible coaching and a web application to help people optimize their workout sessions. MapMyFitness provides users with the ability to map, record and share their workouts utilizing GPS and other technologies, which is contested by Adidas. In a lawsuit filed with the Delaware court on Tuesday, Adidas said Under Armour and MapMyFitness "willfully infringed" the German company's ten patents. Adidas also said that both the companies had prior knowledge of the patents but still went ahead with their offerings. The German firm has sought damages as well as jury trial, according to the filing. Under Armour could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters outside of regular U.S. business hours. The case is Adidas AG vs Under Armour Inc and MapMyFitness Inc, Case No. 14-00130, U.S. District Court, District of Delaware. (Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane)