Adidas spent more than three years developing and perfecting the Trionda football, used in this year’s World Cup, through testing in different climates and stadiums.
But while the colorful ball finally has its moment of glory, a German designer seeks to strip Adidas of its design rights.
Marius Dittmar claims that the Trionda design should not have received protection because it is fundamentally similar to his four-segment football designs — a radical departure from traditional 32-segment balls.
Through his company 142k, which has worked with sporting goods brands such as Jako and Hummel, Dittmar asked the European Union Intellectual Property Office to invalidate the design registered by Adidas.
Adidas has provided the official match ball for every World Cup since 1970, ensuring a prominent presence on one of the world’s most valuable marketing platforms.
Advances in manufacturing technology have allowed ball designers to reduce the number of segments and change their shape, which they say improves aerodynamics and reduces waste. The geometry of the ball itself is valuable intellectual property.
“The shape of the bud is the fundamental element of the ball,” said Dittmar, who has been marketing his four-flap designs. The outcome of the dispute will have an impact on the ease with which Adidas’ competitors will be able to market similar-looking balls.
The Trionda, which features a built-in sensor that transmits real-time data to referees, is part of Adidas’ wider marketing strategy for the World Cup. The German company manufactures and sponsors uniforms for 14 participating teams, compared to 12 for rival Nike.
Dittmar said he contacted Adidas in March 2025 to raise what he considered a potential conflict due to the similarity of the Trionda’s design to his own.
The sporting goods group published an EU design registration for the ball shortly afterwards. Adidas had already filed its registration with the EUIPO, but it was kept confidential under the bloc’s rules that allow designs to remain unpublished before launch.
Dittmar said he initially sought a non-claim agreement with Adidas. The agreement — a legal promise not to enforce intellectual property rights — would have allowed both parties to commercialize the design. He only chose to challenge Adidas’ design after the company refused to commit to the non-claim agreement, Dittmar said. The dispute was first reported by Manager Magazin.
In documents filed with the EUIPO, 142k argues that the Adidas-registered design lacks the novelty and individual character required for protection because it too closely resembles an earlier four-goal ball disclosed in a US patent application published in 2008.
Adidas argues that although both balls have the same number of webbing, the curvature of the seams that connect them, the proportions of the webbing and the directional flow of the design form a distinct overall design.
The company said Dittmar’s action concerns only the shape of the four buds and that the ball’s color scheme and texture are covered by separate protections under design and trademark legislation.
Intellectual property protection is key in the sporting goods industry, allowing brands to prevent competitors from taking advantage of their developments by launching cheaper copycat products.
Ansgar Ohly, professor of intellectual property and competition law at Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, said Adidas will continue to benefit from its brand recognition and trademark rights regardless of the outcome of the dispute.
“Consumers will still know which ball is the original Adidas product,” he said.
Adidas intends to use the same bud design in competitions such as the German Bundesliga and Major League Soccer in North America.
The EUIPO gave Adidas until August to respond before issuing a decision. The company said it will retain all rights to market and sell the World Cup ball regardless of the outcome of the process and that there will be “no commercial impact”.
