Nike, Inc. and StockX, LLC have settled Nike’s 2022 trademark lawsuit against the online reseller of collectible footwear and other products for allegedly selling counterfeit shoes and unauthorized digital assets known as NFTs, according to a filing on Friday, August 29, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Reuters is reporting that Nike and StockX told the court that it would dismiss the case with prejudice, which means it cannot be refiled. The companies issued a joint statement stating that they had resolved the case “amicably” on confidential terms. No other terms were reported.
As reported earlier by SGB Media, Nike, Inc. filed the lawsuit in February 2022, alleging that StockX’s NFT images of Nike brand sneakers infringed its trademarks. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are digital assets used to verify the authenticity of digital art and other internet-based objects.
Nike, Inc. upped the ante in May 2022, stating that it had purchased counterfeit shoes on the StockX site, despite promises that everything sold on the platform is authentic. This claim undermined StockX’s argument that its NFTs are part of a process to guarantee the authenticity of its shoes.
In a June 2022 filing, StockX stated that the platform has one of the strongest authentication processes in the industry and has devoted millions of dollars to combating the spread of counterfeit products.
StockX said in its response that, “Despite numerous opportunities to offer feedback or criticisms, at no time in the past did Nike express concerns to StockX about its authentication processes. The motive behind Nike’s newfound litigation position is suspicious at best.”
StockX also reiterated that its Vault NFTs are not physical shoes.
“Nike’s lawsuit is nothing more than a baseless and misleading attempt to interfere with an innovative and efficient method to trade in current culture, part of the increasingly popular and lawful secondary market for the sale of its sneakers and other goods,” StockX said at the time.
“The fight started when StockX launched “Vault” NFTs tied to physical sneakers. These tokens showed Nike shoes, complete with logos, which Nike claimed could mislead customers into thinking there was some kind of partnership,” 99Bitcoins reported over the weekend.
U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni determined in March 2025 that StockX was liable for selling 37 pairs of counterfeit shoes. A jury trial on Nike’s remaining claims was scheduled to begin in October, according to a report from Reuters.
This case was reportedly closely monitored by the NFT and digital currency communities.
While the settlement in this case enables the two companies to move on to running their businesses, 99Bitcoin suggested that “for everyone else watching, especially in the NFT and streetwear scenes, this story becomes part of a growing playbook on what not to do when mixing blockchain and big brands. It’s a quiet ending, but one that will probably echo across the space for a while.”
Image courtesy StockX
