A Federal Judge Has Overturned the Nike vs Lululemon Flyknit Patent Case Verdict in a Major Legal Reversal

What The Judge Actually Decided In a March 31, 2026 opinion, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan granted Lululemon’s motion for judgment as a matter of law, holding that the claims of Nike’s U.S. Patent No. 8,266,749, covering methods of manufacturing knit sneaker uppers, are invalid for obviousness under U.S.

patent law. That ruling overturns a March 2025 jury verdict that had found Lululemon infringed the ’749 patent and awarded Nike $355,450 in damages, far below the roughly $2.8 million (about 5% of shoe revenues) Nike originally sought.

Judge Subramanian concluded that, in light of prior art, the patented manufacturing method would have been obvious to a skilled technician, meaning Nike cannot enforce those claims against Lululemon and is not entitled to any damages.

The court also rejected Nike’s bid to increase the now erased award, closing the door, for now, on monetary relief in this case. How We Got Here: Nike v…