Nike has escalated its lawsuit against the online marketplace StockX, claiming the reseller is selling fake versions of its shoes on the latter’s.
The multinational sportswear company and StockX are already involved in a legal battle over trademark infringement — a case that was filed in New York earlier in 2022 — involving Nike-branded Vault non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Here’s all we know about the Nike vs StockX case
Fresh filing accuses StockX of selling ‘counterfeits’
Now, in a new filing added as an amendment to the original case in the Southern District of New York, Nike claimed that it purchased four fake pairs of purported Nikes through StockX over a two-month period.
CBS News reports that the globally renowned athletic apparel major has requested the federal judge for the removal of the alleged fakes from the StockX website.
Nike’s lawyers have argued that the online marketplace should be barred from selling shoes in any form. This is significant because the lawyers had stated that StockX sold Vault NFTs earlier in 2022 as Nike products.
Additionally, the lawyers said that after the main lawsuit was filed, StockX reportedly removed a text affirming the authenticity of the NFTs but continued to sell them.
What do Nike’s lawyers say?
In the new memorandum of law in support of its ‘Motion for Leave to File a First Amended Complaint’, Nike lawyers said, “Despite StockX’s numerous guarantees of authenticity, Nike recently obtained four confirmed pairs of counterfeit ‘Nike’ shoes, which were purchased within a two-month period on StockX’s platform.”
“StockX affixed its ‘Verified Authentic’ hangtag to each pair of counterfeit shoes and included a paper receipt in the shoe box stating that each pair of counterfeit shoes is ‘100% Authentic’,” argued Nike’s lawyers in the memorandum.
According to the global athletic major, at least one pair of counterfeit shoes is the same as one of the infringing Nike-branded Vault NFTs. The memorandum also contained pictures of the original Nike shoe and its alleged copy.
StockX issues statement
Following the “counterfeit” accusation, StockX issued a statement calling Nike’s allegations “baseless”.
“We take customer protection extremely seriously, and we’ve invested millions to fight the proliferation of counterfeit products that virtually every global marketplace faces today. Nike’s latest filing is not only baseless but also is curious given that their own brand protection team has communicated confidence in our authentication program, and that hundreds of Nike employees—including current senior executives—use StockX to buy and sell products,” StockX said.
The online marketplace said that the shoemaker’s tactic is “nothing more than a panicked and desperate attempt to resuscitate its losing legal case.”
“Nike’s challenge has no merit and clearly demonstrates their lack of understanding of the modern marketplace,” it added.
(Main and Featured images: Lennart Uecker/@lennartuecker/Unsplash)
This article first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Hong Kong.
The post Nike sues online marketplace StockX, says site is selling counterfeit shoes appeared first on Lifestyle Asia Bangkok.
