On Tuesday, Nike requested a federal court for the Southern District of New York to add allegations of fraudulent counterfeiting advertising to an ongoing trademark infringement complaint against StockX,
StockX LLC is an online secondary sneaker marketplace. According to a Bloomberg article, Nike’s legal counsel acquired four pairs of counterfeit sneakers for two months, with invoices indicating that the products were legitimate.
In February, Nike filed a lawsuit against StockX over its “Vault NFTs” service, which StockX’s website describes as new digital tokens giving unparalleled access and utility to consumers. Every NFT vault is a tangible representation of the advertised product, which StockX says is a type of ownership ticket for a desirable shoe such as the Nike SB dunk Low Ben & Jerry’s seen on the vault NFT main page.
NFT Opening Loops for Opportunists
Nike stated in the complaint that StockX benefited from “the back of Nike’s famous trademarks.” Nike stated that it did not provide approval for this use. Nike stated in court that emerging technologies like this provide the opportunities and loopholes for third parties to benefit from reputable brands’ hard work, thereby causing confusion to consumers.
In defining how trademark law should be applied to the new realm of NFT, the Nike case is not the only one on the issue. Still in the New York’s Southern District, a federal judge permits a lawsuit against one artist, Mason Rothschild. The case will now proceed after a motion seeking the dismissal on behalf of the artist was rejected last week.
Rothschild was sued after the sales of “MetaBirkin” NFT during the Miami Art Basel event last year. According to the report by Reuters, Rothschild had made nothing less than a million dollars from the sales of MetaBirkin by the time he was sued by Hermes in January. In Rothschild’s response to the allegations, he stated that the establishment of the US constitution allows him to create art from things around him.
