MLive file photo

DETROIT, MI -- A Detroit woman claims she came up with the idea for the Apple Watch and Nike + Sensor in the 1990s. She's now suing corporate giants Apple and Nike for a combined $5 billion.

Daisy Washington-Gross of Detroit, who previously lost a similar 2000-filed lawsuit against Reebok for stealing her digital shoe idea, submitted federal lawsuits against Apple and Nike in Detroit's U.S. District Court April 8, 2016.

She wants a payment of $2 billion from Apple and $3 billion from Nike. There's no indication in the lawsuit how she arrived at those figures.

"I would like a jury trial to prove the patent infringement of their" Apple Watch and be awarded $2 billion "because of their infringement and because I was the first to put in for a patent for a 'computer wrist watch,'" the complaint says.

The Apple Watch, released in 2014, was the first mass produced Internet compatible "smart watch" able to sync with other Apple devices.

The Nike+ Sensor is an electronic device popular with runners that slips into the shoe. It syncs with Apple products and Nike sports watches to track certain data, such as a runner's pace, distance, time elapsed and calories burned.

Washington-Gross says that's her idea. The lawsuit claims she has a patent pending for the Detachable Beeper Disc Digital Gym Shoe with Sensor.

She mailed Nike a letter on Nov. 10, 1995 about her idea for the first "computer gym shoe," the complaint says. "I wanted to see if Nike could have a shoe ready by the 1996 Olympics."

Washington-Gross says she has "correspondence, drawings and other paperwork" to produce in support of her claim.

In a similar lawsuit filed against Reebok in 2000 and dismissed by a federal judge the following year, Washington-Gross wrote: "I invented the first gym shoe, to help athletic's time their feet [sic]."

MLive sent requests for comment via email to the media relations departments of Apple and Nike. No response had been received as of noon Thursday.

Nike and Apple will have 21 days to respond in court, upon being served, if a judge allows the cases to continue.

Documents

Apple Lawsuit:

Nike Lawsuit:

Reebok Lawsuit: