Aug 29 (Reuters) – Nike (NKE.N), opens new tab and StockX have settled Nike’s trademark lawsuit against the popular online reseller for allegedly selling counterfeit shoes and unauthorized digital assets known as NFTs, according to a filing on Friday in New York federal court.
Nike and StockX told the court, opens new tab that they would dismiss the case with prejudice, which means it cannot be refiled. The companies said in a joint statement that they had resolved the case “amicably” on confidential terms.
Nike filed the lawsuit in 2022, alleging that StockX’s NFT images of Nike sneakers infringed its trademarks. NFTs, short for non-fungible tokens, are unique digital assets often used to verify the authenticity of digital art and other internet objects.
Nike argued consumers would likely be confused into thinking that StockX’s NFTs were associated with the shoe giant, which had begun offering its own NFTs earlier that year.
Nike later added claims that StockX sold counterfeit shoes, and argued that the counterfeiting undermined StockX’s argument that the NFTs were part of a process to guarantee its shoes’ authenticity.
StockX denied the allegations and called them “disingenuous.”
U.S. District Judge Valerie Caproni determined in March that StockX was liable for selling 37 pairs of counterfeit shoes. A jury trial on Nike’s remaining claims was scheduled to start in October.
The case is Nike Inc v. StockX LLC, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 1:22-cv-00983.
For Nike: Tamar Duvdevani, Marc Miller, Michael Hynes, and Michael Fluhr of DLA Piper
For StockX: David Bernstein and Megan Bannigan of Debevoise & Plimpton; Rob Potter of Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton; Jeffrey Morganroth of Morganroth & Morganroth
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Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington
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Blake Brittain
Thomson Reuters
Blake Brittain reports on intellectual property law, including patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, for Reuters Legal. He has previously written for Bloomberg Law and Thomson Reuters Practical Law and practiced as an attorney.
