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What Not To Wear: All-Nike Edition

By Johanna Gibson, David Pearce, Jeremy Phillips and Ilanah Simon.

From the IPKat's longstanding supplier of information Miri Frankel (Beanstalk) comes a guest posting for your delectation, based upon a curious little item she spotted a little while back:

"No, Trinny and Susannah are not devoting their fashion sense to trainers and athletic wear. However, the Kat has heard here that Apple is aiming to limit all users of the Nike + iPod kit to wearing the sensors only in authorized Nike trainers.

Right: While the Kat does take his tunes on the road, he can usually be found listening to his iPod while relaxing.

Apparently, iPod-loving athletes have been using the sensors with non-Nike footwear by attaching the sensors to their shoelaces. Apple has filed US patent application 2008/0218310 to combat this circumvention of the Nike + iPod partnership. According to the patent application, Apple has developed updated sensors that only work when embedded in authorized Nike+ athletic wear, and which are inoperable when rogue athletes try to wear the sensors in unauthorized gear ?- which is unfortunate for any Kat who is partial to Puma".

Is Apple?s action an example of DRM for your clothes, as suggested by New Scientist? Not exactly, says the Kat. The Nike + iPod partnership is extremely lucrative. With the market in decline, Apple is merely protecting its and Nike?s bottom line. Apple, not Nike, has the standing to apply for a patent that clearly links their cooperative products. Merpel wonders whether Nike is seeking design rights in the sensor-shaped hole in the soles of its footwear.

Many thanks, Miri (who also provided the Kats' comments).

Full post as published by IPKat on October 18, 2008 (boomark / email).