Sports footwear and apparel manufacturer Nike has sued online reseller StockX for illegally selling non-fungible tokens featuring the brand’s sneakers.
According to a lawsuit filed by Nike in New York federal court, Detroit-based online platform StockX began selling these NFTs last month. StockX promised buyers that they would be able to exchange tokens for physical Nike shoes in the near future and sold over 500 NFTs. The branded merchandise maker has claimed that StockX collectible tokens infringe its exclusive trademark rights and mislead buyers.
In addition, complaints about inflated prices, unclear terms of purchase and ownership of these NFTs, and customer doubts about the legality of StockX’s actions have damaged Nike’s business reputation. Therefore, the company demanded that the StockX platform stop selling these NFTs and pay monetary compensation, without specifying a specific amount.
Nike also said it would release “virtual products” later this month in partnership with digital art studio RTFKT, which it acquired in December. Note that this manufacturer became interested in collectible tokens back in 2019, having patented the Cryptokicks system for tokenizing shoes as NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.
Considering the recent popularity of NFTs, lawsuits related to non-fungible tokens have become increasingly common in US courts. In the fall, Miramax sued director Quentin Tarantino over the release of NFT based on Pulp Fiction. Recently, the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) also spoke out about NFTs, calling them assets “ripe” for illegal activities.
