The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office denied a petition by Adidas that would have found some of the Eager Beavertons’ key Flyknit patents unprotectable because of obviousness in a review. Adidas had argued that a person of “ordinary” skill in the field of knitting would have been able to combine two prior patents along with generally known textbook writing on knitting to develop the Flyknit; however, the review board wrote that “combinations that change ‘basic principles under which the [prior art] as designed to operate,” or that render the prior art ‘inoperable for its intended purpose,’ may fail to support ... Log in to view full article.