StockX Says Nike Doesn't Understand Its NFT Project

Back in February, Nike filed a lawsuit against StockX accusing them of using its trademarks without authorisation to sell NFTs "at heavily inflated prices to unsuspecting consumers." In the complaint, the Beaverton brand stated that by minting Vault NFTs, the resale platform is "likely to confuse consumers, create a false association between those products and Nike, and dilute Nike’s famous trademarks."

Fast forward two months and StockX has finally responded, calling the Swoosh's lawsuit "a baseless and misleading attempt to interfere with the application of a new technology to the increasingly popular and lawful secondary market for the sale of its sneakers and other good." The Detroit company also cites that its Vault NFTs are not actually digital sneakers, but they are instead tokens that are tied to already authenticated products. In doing so, users benefit from bypassing the usual sneaker authentication process that can usually take weeks. The reply also states that the NFTs themselves have no value and cannot be traded separately from the associated physical shoe.

"The benefit of taking possession of the Vault NFT is that the owner can make a future trade without incurring transaction costs, delay, or risk of damage or loss associated with shipping physical sneakers to StockX and then to the ultimate recipients."

Since it was introduced earlier this year, StockX has launched 11 Vault NFTs including sneakers from brands such as adidas, New Balance, Nike, and PUMA, such as the Ben & Jerry's x Nike SB Dunk Low "Chunky Dunky", Off-White x Nike Dunk Low "50/50", and the Yeezy Boost 350 V2 "Beluga". The marketplace also recently debuted the same function for trading cards.

Nike have yet to response to StockX, but as soon as they do, The Sole Supplier will be the first to let you know. Let us know what you think of this news, and in related news, Off-White has officially trademarked the red zip tie!