SportStar Athletics, which has supplied its molded chinstraps and chin guards to NFLers Eli Manning, Andre Johnson, Drew Brees, DeMacrus Ware, and Ben Roethlisberger among others, had filed a patent infringement suit against Under Armour and JR286, Inc. The federal complaint was filed in Texas on Monday.
The Houston company, which is the licensee for several chin strap patents, alleges the defendants have willfully disregarded its rights and produced their own devices that infringe on any one of fout patent. This includes Under Armour's "Defender" model chinstrap that was sold in big box sporting goods chain the Sports Authority as long ago as Aug.2010. 5 months earlier, SportStar thought it was close to reaching a licensing agreement with Under Armour on the brand's top-selling chinstrap,but UA backed away from the potential deal by citing it wasn't the correct time to enter the chinstrap market.
