Nike seeks to add counterfeiting claims to StockX lawsuit

• Blockchain Council
• September 07, 2022

On Tuesday(10-05-2022), Nike, the American multinational corporation, urged a federal judge in the Southern District of NY to add forgery and misleading advertisements allegations to an already-existing trademark dilution action against StockX.

As per Bloomberg, Nike’s legal counsel bought four counterfeit pairs from the marketplace over the course of 2 months, all with documents saying the shoes were 100% original.

Nike accused StockX in the month of February of its “Vault NFTs” service, which is described on the StockX site as “new digital tokens giving unparalleled access and utility for our users.”

The Vault NFTs, according to Nike’s lawsuit, are assets that StockX is earning from “on the basis of Nike’s trademarks,” which it did not provide authorization for use in this case. In the court statement, Nike argues, “Regrettably, fresh product lines, budding technology, and gold rush marketplaces tend to generate possibilities for third parties to profit on the reputation of respectable companies and lead to misunderstanding in the marketplace.”

The Nike issue isn’t the only one that has the potential to shape how copyright law is applied to this new world of NFTs. After rejecting a plea to dismiss the case on behalf of the artist last week, a federal court in NY’s Southern District has allowed a Hermès lawsuit against artist Mason Rothschild to proceed. 

After selling “MetaBirkin” NFTs in the previous year’s Miami Art Basel show in December, Rothschild was prosecuted. The non-fungible tokens were first offered on Basic. Space illustrated a hundred various fake fur versions of the typically leather expensive Birkin bags. According to Reuters, by the time Hermès sued Rothschild in January, he had profited at least a million dollars from MetaBirkin selling.

Hermès described the LA-based artist as a “virtual fraudster attempting to get money quick by copying the brand” in the complaint. Rothschild “seeks to earn his wealth by trading out Hermès’ “real-world” rights for “digital rights,” according to the French fashion company, stressing that he chose to offer digital MetaBirkins “since a Birkin handbag is a highly valuable asset in the actual world.”

StockX disclosed

We take client safety as a priority, and we’ve put millions of dollars into combating the rise of pirated goods that plague nearly every worldwide market space today. Nike’s recent lawsuit is not only without merit but also puzzling, considering that their trademark protection team has expressed trust in our authentication method and that hundreds of Nike workers, including current top executives, utilize StockX to purchase and sell items. This current strategy is little more than a desperate and panicky attempt to revive its lost legal lawsuit against our breakthrough Vault NFT service, which fundamentally changes the way customers acquire, store, and sell collectibles in a secure, efficient, and sustainable manner. Nike’s challenge is without substance and exposes its ignorance of the new business.

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