Sportswear and footwear manufacturer Nike has filed a lawsuit against online retailer StockX for the unauthorized sale of Nike sneakers NFTs.
The complaint was filed with the New York Southern District Court.
According to Nike’s position, StockX violated trademark rights and misled consumers. The company demanded undisclosed damages against the sale of digital assets.
In the lawsuit, Nike said the retailer began offering NFTs in January, saying users could buy back the actual version of the shoe “soon.”
StockX has sold more than 500 branded digital collectibles, according to Nike, and it has badly damaged Nike’s business reputation.
Nike said that NFT is a way for brands to interact with their customers, but some players in the market are trying to “usurp” it and illegally use trademarks for illegal profits.
Nike also announced its February launch of a “range of virtual products” with digital art studio RTFKT, which it acquired in December 2021.
The company first outlined its ambitions in digital assets in 2019 by patenting a mechanism for product tokenization on the Ethereum blockchain.
The former president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, Robert Iger, has already expressed deep concerns about copyright infringement in the NFT sector.