Nike Inc. has sued StockX LLC, saying the Detroit-based online shoe reseller has violated its trademarks as it emerges into the digital product market.
In the lawsuit filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Nike said StockX is "minting" without permission digital assets known as NFTs (nonfungible tokens) that use Nike's trademarks. The digital tokens allow people to trade sneakers without possessing them. The holder of the token can redeem it for delivery when they choose. According to the StockX website, the shoes are stored in climate-controlled, high-security vaults.
Nike alleges that StockX is selling the assets at "heavily inflated prices to unsuspecting consumers who believe or are likely to believe that those 'investible digital assets' (as StockX calls them) are, in fact, authorized by Nike when they are not."
