Skechers responds to Kizik’s ‘baseless’ lawsuit

Footwear giant Skechers USA has said it plans to “vigorously defend the patent suit” launched against it by HandsFree Lab (HFL), the parent company of Kizik.

In a press release, Skechers said HFL’s allegations, pertaining to its line of Skechers Hands Free Slip-ins, were “baseless” and rooted in the “assertion that Kizik created the hands-free footwear category and is the only company that can legally use that century-old idea”.

In the lawsuit, filed with a Texas court, Kizik alleges that Skechers “knowingly” infringed on four HFL utility patents and two design patents for its slip-in footwear, a line that, according to HFL, was launched without licensing or acknowledging the Kizik brand.

The suit goes on to state that a number of related patents pursued by Skechers have been rejected, a claim Skechers calls “false”, with the company underlining that it has “obtained more than 140 utility and design patents worldwide, including in the US”.

In a statement, Skechers’ president, Michael Greenberg, expressed suspicion over the timing of the lawsuit, which he notes comes shortly after Skechers announced a 9.42 billion dollars merger with 3G Capital.

Despite not receiving “so much as a letter from Kizik” since launching its Slip-ins line in 2021, Greenberg states that upon the merger’s announcement, “Kizik hires a law firm also used by Nike and attacks our whole Slip-ins product line”.

Greenberg continues: “We believe that, after all these years of silence, the true motivation for this lawsuit might be found right on the face of Kizik’s complaint, where they state that they are looking for a share of the 9.42 dollars billion being paid for Skechers, money Kizik did not earn and does not deserve.”

According to Greenberg, Skechers has become a “market leader in the hands-free footwear space” through innovating with technology and investing into research and development. As such, Skechers “will aggressively challenge both the validity of the patents and the infringement claims”, he adds.