Nike has escalated its feud with sneaker marketplace StockX.
The sportswear giant has asked a federal judge to allow the company to add counterfeiting and false advertising claims to the current trademark-infringement lawsuit against the marketplace, which promises to sell only authentic footwear.
The move comes after Nike revealed that it had purchased four pairs of counterfeit shoes from the platform between December and January, including a counterfeit Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG.
“Those four pairs of counterfeit shoes were all purchased within a short two-month period on StockX’s platform,” said Nike in a court filing Tuesday.
“All 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.'”
On Wednesday, StockX noted that not only does it take its customer protection “extremely seriously,” but the company has also invested millions of dollars to “fight the proliferation of counterfeit products that virtually every global marketplace faces today.”
“Nike’s latest filing is not only baseless but also is curious given that their own brand protection team has communicated confidence in our authentication program and that hundreds of Nike employees – including current senior executives – use StockX to buy and sell products,” said StockX in the statement.
Nike first sued StockX in February 2022 in a federal court in Manhattan. In the lawsuit, Nike accused StockX of “blatantly freeriding” on Nike’s trademarks and goodwill through an offering called Vault NFTs.
In response, the marketplace argued that its NFTs are not digital sneakers but simply listings for physical sneakers stored in its Vault and can be traded by users. StockX also said that its practices were “no different than major eCommerce retailers and marketplaces who use images and descriptions of products to sell physical sneakers and other goods, which consumers see (and are not confused by) every single day.”
Despite the ongoing lawsuit, StockX has not yet removed any Nike trademarks from its Vault NFTs. StockX has yet to give a formal response.
