Nike has filed a lawsuit in the Southern District Court of New York against StockX, accusing the sneaker resale marketplace of using Nike’s trademarks without authorization to market and sell non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
Last month, StockX introduced what it called “Vault NFTs,” a collection that ties a digital token that users can trade among themselves to a real, physical sneaker.
In the suit, Nike states that StockX “has chosen to compete in the NFT market not by taking the time to develop its own intellectual property rights, but rather by blatantly freeriding, almost exclusively, on the back of Nike’s famous trademarks and associated goodwill.”
According to the lawsuit, Nike charges StockX has sold 558 Nike-branded digital sneaker NFTs at “heavily inflates prices to unsuspecting customers.”
Nike draws from social media to establish that there is already confusion over the StockX NFTs, pointing to comments on Reddit and Twitter that question whether Nike is involved in the project.
“Nike did not approve of or authorize StockX’s Nike-branded Vault NFTs,” the complaint reads. “The Vault NFTs’ inflated prices and murky terms of purchase and ownership have already led to public criticism of StockX and allegations that the Vault NFTs are a scam.”
StockX said it does not comment on legal matters.
Photo courtesy StockX
