HANDS OFF THIS FOOTBALL: THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY BEHIND THE 2026 WORLD CUP MATCH FOOTBALL

The name, Trionda® is derived from “Tri,” for three, representing the three host nations, the United States (US), Canada and Mexico, and “onda,” for waves, which are gently curved.  Introduced on  October 2, 2025, the Trionda® match ball presents a unique color scheme of blue, red, and green- blue with a five-pointed Star for the United States, red with a maple leaf for Canada, and green with a golden eagle head for Mexico.

Trionda® Trademark

The Trademark Trionda®, in standard characters, in International Class 28 for Sports Balls, was granted US Trademark Registration No. 8225622, EU Trademark Registration No. 019006277, and UK Trademark Registration No. 00004103580.  Other registered trademarks for Adidas’ Trionda® sports ball include national registrations in Italy, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Brazil, Peru, and presently pending in South Korea.

Design Protection For The Trionda® Match Ball

The Trionda® match ball’s design of its four panel construction, and panel shape is covered in Registered EU Design No. 015017152-0001 (Figure 2), and US Design Patent D1100082S, which claims priority from the aforementioned EU Registered Design.

Highlights of the design include the panel shaped based on the geometry of  tetrahedrons, four triangles, three of which meet at any given point.  The triangular sides become curves. This results in panels with smoothly curved arcs of gentle even curvature.

In October 2025, a challenger sought to invalidate Adidas’s registration, alleging that  Adidas Registered EU Design was similar to that of a ball disclosed in a 2008 US Published Patent Application (US Patent Application Publication No. US 2008/0268989 A1) (the ‘8989 Publication).

The challenge is summarized in  Figures 3 and 4.  In Figure 3,  the left two figures are the contested ball of Adidas registered design, and the right two figures are of a potentially invalidating design, from the ‘8989 Publication.  Figure 3 is from the challenger’s submission, while Figure 4 is from Adidas’, the holder’s, submission.

 

The challenger contends that the ball of the ‘8989 Publication (Figure 3, right side) produces an identical overall impression to that of the Adidas’ Trionda® ball (Figure 3, left side) on the informed user, despite minor differences in curvature.  Specifically, the design of the ball of the ‘8989 Publication shares the same overall configuration, number, and position of panels, and an identical tetrahedral arrangement of vertices, which provides the overall impression of Adidas’ registered ball design, except for minor variations in seam curvature, which are visually negligible and remain below the threshold of perceptibility for the informed user, leaving the overall impression unchanged for the informed user.

 

Adidas, the design holder, asserts that the difference between the strongly undulating edge of the ball of the ‘8989 Publication (Figure  4, right side, upper and lower images) and a smooth arc of the Adidas ball (Figure 4, left side, upper and lower images) is a core design feature, such that the aforementioned differences are dominant features sufficient to produce a different overall impression. Adidas also asserts that another clear difference is at the point where the panels meet, where the panels in challenged design of Adidas run in a straight line (Figure 4, lower left image in red), while panels of the ball of the ‘8989 publication do not exhibit any straight lines (Figure 4, lower right image in red).

This challenge is waiting for adjudication, as both parties’ submissions are presently in the Invalidity Division of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).

Utility Patent Protection For The Trionda® Match Ball

Utility patents are directed to ball aerodynamics, sensors and sensor mounting technologies, and connected ball technology.  The Trionda® match ball’s connected ball technology is used with Video Assisted Referee (VAR) systems of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), to detect in-game situations commonly faced by referees and thus, subject to human error.

Trionda® Ball Panel And Ball Construction

The Trionda® match ball’s panel construction and panel joining methods provide for improved aerodynamics.  For example, Patent EP 3067100B1 (US Patent No. 10376750B2) to Adidas AG is directed to ball construction with gaps between panels being filled with a filling material, closing the gaps but leaving groves between the panels for aerodynamics.  US Patent No. 8529386B2 to Adidas AG (Figure 5) shows pseudo-seams or grooves 60 between seams 50 which manage aerodynamic drag by stabilizing ball flight, allowing for ball control.

A ball formed of a bladder, an intermediate layer, and an outer layer, of the same material class, with different material types, is provided in US Patent No. 12491411B2.  In this patent, different layers of the ball are enabled by the knowledge that different (physical and chemical) forms (e.g., yarn, foil, foam, particles, etc.) of a material of the same chemical material class (e.g., thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), or polyethylene (PE)) may be used in order to provide the different properties required for manufacturing such a ball (e.g., form, stability, resilience, moisture repellence, flight behavior, rebound properties, and visual appearance).

Sensors and Sensor Positioning In the Trionda® Ball

The Trionda® ball houses a sensor, for example, an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU), which integrates an accelerometer, a gyrometer, and a magnetometer.   The IMU in the Trionda® ball is a lightweight 14-gram, 500Hz sensor, which detects ball contacts (touches), speed, spin, movement, and trajectory, in real time.  The IMU captures data at 500 times per second (every two milliseconds). The IMU is side mounted on the ball, as part of an IMU module, which  is embedded within a panel, and balanced by counterweights elsewhere in the ball.

 

Presently, patents and patent application publications for the Trionda® match ball’s side mounted sensor technology appear to be not publicly available, as these documents may be subject to an 18 month secrecy period after a patent application is filed.  However, US Patent No. 8771110B2, shown in Figure 6, appears to be a precursor to sensors mounted on a side panel of the Trionda® ball.  In this patent, a sensor 330 is mounted on a valve assembly 1, that mounts to a side panel of the ball.

Connected Ball Technology

The Trionda® ball’s side mounted IMU (of the IMU module), as shown in FIG. 7, provides real-time ball contact sensing and transmission of the ball contact data, to VAR systems (operated by FIFA) for assisting in officiating decisions.  The IMU module  measures and analyzes ball contacts detected by the IMU.  The IMU module is typically coupled with stadium and pitch cameras, allowing for VAR officials to make faster, more accurate offside, handball, out-of-bounds, and goal-line decisions through 3D tracking.

Ball touch timing for VAR assistance is protected by a partnership of Adidas AG and Kinexon GmbH in US Patent Nos. 12070655 (Adidas AG), 12121776B2 (Adidas AG), 12533561B2 (Adidas AG), and 11150321B2 (Kinexon GmbH). The IMUs of the patented systems detect ball activity, including ball motion (speed, spin, trajectory, and distance), ball impacts or sensed ball contacts, such as player kicks, player non-kick contacts such as handballs and headers, deflections, goalkeeper touches, and rebounds.  The sensed ball contacts are timestamped and usable in VAR decisions including semi-automated offsides detection (based on the exact moment of ball passes), last player ball contact for out of bounds, and inadvertent handballs (ball touch detection).

US Patent No. 11150321B1 to Kinexon GmbH discloses radio location of the ball on the pitch based on the IMU in the ball.  The obtained data may be synchronized with camera data to detect precise ball contact and movement for offsides detection.

US Patent No. 1207655B2 utilizes a sensor module where the sensor continuously sends data to memory in the module.  When an event occurs (like a sudden high-force acceleration from a kick), the processor of the module pulls the data from the memory to evaluate the exact moment, speed, trajectory, and rotation rate of the ball.  This data is analyzed for real-time verification of referee decisions, for example, including the exact moment of a pass to determine offsides, and goal-line decisions.

US Patent No. 12533561B2 (Adidas AG) covers core methods for identifying kick points and movement patterns by processing sensor data.

The ball touch timing measurements (impact plus timestamp) coupled with distance and position measurements from Ultra-Wideband (UWB) sensors provide real time telemetry, with the data collected for player/team analytics.

Goal-line Detection

While US Patent Nos. 12121776B2 and 12533561B2, both to Adidas AG, disclose goal detection, goal line decisions are made with separate systems from Hawk-Eye (now Hawk-Eye Innovations of Sony Corp.) or GoalRef Goal-line Technology System.  The Hawk-Eye Innovations system of US Patent No. 11514678B2 uses sensor data coupled with camera images of the ball to determine goal line ball position.  The GoalRef System of US Patent No. 8535183B2 utilizes electromagnetic to determine whether the ball has passed a goal plane.

In conclusion, the Trionda® 2026 World Cup match ball is far more than a familiar object on the pitch. Behind its design, structure, materials, sensors and connected technology lies a broad layer of intellectual property protection, from trademarks and designs to complex utility patents.

The story of the Trionda® 2026 World Cup match ball demonstrates that innovation in modern sport is not only about performance on the field, but also about the legal and technological frameworks that allow companies to develop, differentiate and protect their competitive advantage.

In this sense, the Trionda® 2026 World Cup match ball offers a compelling example of how design, engineering, data and intellectual property meet at the very center of the “beautiful” and the world’s most popular game.