Nike Is Suing StockX For Allegedly Selling Counterfeits
Featured Image: StockX
In February, Nike filed a lawsuit against StockX over what Nike would claim to be trademark infringement over the NFTs that StockX was selling. In the last week, the situation has escalated — Nike is claiming that it purchased four pair of counterfeited Nikes from StockX — the hypebeast shoe resale website that is valued at #3.8 billion.
In a federal court filing with the Southern District of New York, Nike said that the shoes purchased were determined to be fake and “had affixed to them StockX’s ‘Verified Authentic’ hang tag, and all came with a paper receipt from StockX in the shoe box stating that the condition of the shoes is ‘100% Authentic.’”
The filing went on to allege that StockX is “knowingly deceiving consumers with these false and/or misleading statements about the authenticity of the Nike goods for sale on its platform, continuing to engage in such improper and unlawful business practices to attract consumers to its platform and induce consumers to purchase supposedly genuine Nike goods and purchase and trade the infringing Nike-branded Vault NFTs.”
StockX has disputed the claims, stating, “We’ve invested millions to fight the proliferation of counterfeit products that virtually every global marketplace faces today. Nike’s last filing is not only baseless but also is curious given that their own brand protection team has communication confidence in our authentication program, and that hundreds of Nike employees — including current senior executives — use StockX to buy and sell products.”
It continued — “This latest tactic amounts to nothing more than a panicked and desperate attempt to resuscitate its losing legal case against our innovative Vault NFT program that revolutionizes the way that consumers can buy, store, and sell collectibles safely, efficiently, and sustainably. Nike’s challenge has no merit and clearly demonstrates their lack of understanding of the modern marketplace.”
Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images
The federal court filing referenced Chanel v. The RealReal, in which Chanel alleged that TRR was selling counterfeit Chanel products, similarly to this case. In Chanel, the court would hold that Chanel had sufficient factual content to plausibly state a claim for false advertisement based on The RealReal’s authenticity advertisements, similar to those of StockX.
Nike has yet to comment.