A Munich court told a patent challenger its case was 'largely unfounded' — Skechers keeps its Slip-ins

Hands-free shoes — the kind you step into without bending down — matter a great deal to older people and anyone whose back or hands protest. Rival Kizik's owner sued Skechers at the Unified Patent Court in Munich, claiming four of its thousands of hands-free styles infringed its patents. The court sided with Skechers on three of the four styles and called the infringement claims 'largely unfounded'; the fourth was a minor, commercially insignificant style. Skechers, which holds more than 300 hands-free patents of its own, keeps selling the shoes that let people skip the bending, the laces and the shoehorn.

SDG 9 · Industry, innovation and infrastructure — Mechanism: legal ruling