Nike is suing Lulu Lemon for patent infringement related to at least four of the apparel company’s shoes, extending a contentious legal history between the two companies. Nike said it has suffered economic harm and irreparable injury as a result of Lululemon’s sale of the Chargefeel Mid, Chargefeel Low, Blissfeel and Strongfeel sneakers. Nike said its three patent claims focus on textile elements, including knitted elements, webbed areas and tubular structures on the footwear. One patent claim also addresses the footwear’s performance. Nike, which is based in Oregon, is seeking unspecified damages.
Nike has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against two popular sneaker designers and the manufacturer of their footwear. The Swoosh filed yesterday in the southern district of New York a lawsuit that spans six different complaints. Nike says defendants Nickwon Arvinger and David Weeks of By Kiy LLC (aka Kool Kiy) and Bill Omar Carrasquillo of Reloaded Merch LLC (Omi aka “Omi in a Hellcat”) have been “promoting, copying, and selling” Nike’s designs, namely the Air Jordan 1 and Dunk, as their own. Along with trademark infringement, Nike says that Kiy and Omi’s designs are also grounds for counts of false designation of origin, unfair competition, and trademark dilution. The Swoosh’s lawyers ague that the alleged knockoff sneakers are likely to confuse customers about the origin of the products and Nike’s connection to them, especially on the secondary market where it highlights examples of resellers using variations of the Air Jordan 1 name to advertise Kiy’s products.
Nike has ramped up its battle with the online marketplace StockX, saying that it purchased four pairs of counterfeit shoes on the site, despite StockX's guarantees of authenticity. The famous footwear manufacturer was already in a lawsuit from February with StockX over what Nike saw as trademark infringement in the non-fungible tokens StockX was selling, and has amended the suit to include the latest accusations. Nike said in a federal court filing with the Southern District of New York on Tuesday that the shoes it had purchased and determined to be fake "had affixed to them StockX's 'Verified Authentic' hangtag, and all came with a paper receipt from StockX in the shoe box stating that the condition of the shoes is '100% Authentic.'" Nike said that StockX is diluting its trademarks while using them to heavily market NFTs, draw in consumers who know the brand and then benefit financially.
How do you think Nikes stock and worth will be after everything is said and done and will it change the sneaker economy forever?
With Nike being such a big corporation with a broad expanse of shoes, it'll be interesting to see if the court favors them. It makes sense with a company like Nike to want to protect its designs from being profited from by others. The StockX situation seems like an unlucky case of unauthentic shoes though.
ReplyDeleteIt may seem unlikely that so many other brands are copying Nike's designs in some was but Nike is also one of the largest clothing/footwear companies in the world. The Lululemon shoes specifically do have a noticeable resemblance to the shape and design of Nike shoes so I think it will interesting to see the results of this case.
ReplyDeleteThere are so many companies that look to imitate Nike's designs. It will be interesting to see what the court rules in this case. I wonder if Nike will pursue some other companies that try to copy their apparel.
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