In Brief:
- Nike claims that StockX’s NFTs violate its trademarks and are likely to confuse consumers.
- Also, StockX has sold over 500 Nike-branded NFTs to date.
- In the lawsuit, Nike asked for unspecified money damages and an order blocking StockX’s NFT sales.
Nike appears to have made an enemy of StockX, as the sportswear company sues the resale platform over its in-house NFT collection in a federal court in New York. The sneaker collection on sale is called “The Vault”. According to the lawsuit, Nike claims that StockX to date has sold over 500 Nike-branded NFTs.
What is the Lawsuit about?
Nike accuses that their sneakers are being sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that contain trademarked material without authorization, citing trademark infringement among the many complaints. Other concerns, according to reports, included “inflated prices and murky terms of purchase and ownership,” as well as buyers’ confusion about StockX’s business model; consequently asking for unspecified money damages and an order blocking StockX’s NFT sales.
StockX is a marketplace for the most anticipated drops and a go-to platform for sneakerheads where buyers could purchase the company’s NFTs and then redeem them for actual sneakers in the future. It made this move during the early part of this year.
Nike is heavily invested in the metaverse. In December, Nike announced its acquisition deal of RTFKT to create next-generation collectibles combining culture and gaming becoming the biggest United States-based athletic products manufacturer through this partnership to join the metaverse bandwagon.
