Nike, Hermès sued retailers for trademark infringement on images used in NFTs

Nike and Hermès have filed a case against retailers for the use of their images without permission. The companies have brought online sneaker reseller StockX and Mason Rothschild, respectively, to the court for trademark infringement.

Nike said that its trademark had been used by StockX by selling images of its sneakers in the form of non-fungible tokens or NFTs. As for Hermès, it sued Mason Rothschild last week as he created the MetaBirkins NFT collection, which features the images of the luxury brand’s world-famous Birkin bags.

In its complaint that was filed in a federal court in New York, the Paris, France-headquartered luxury goods company, said that Rothschild is “A digital speculator who is seeking to get rich quick by appropriating the brand MetaBirkins for use in creating, marketing, selling, and facilitating the exchange of digital assets known as non-fungible tokens.”

As per CoinDesk, the OpenSea NFT marketplace has pulled out the Metabirkin NFTs after a cease-and-desist letter has been served by Hermès to Rothschild. On the other hand, Nike’s lawsuit has no result yet since it just made the filing in court not long ago.

Nike went to the court on Friday, Feb. 4, and it accused StockX of minting and selling NFTs featuring the brand’s trademarked material. These have not been authorized or approved by the company; thus, the footwear firm would like to stop further sales. It is also asking for monetary damages compensation, but the amount has not been mentioned.

Vogue Business reported that Nike stated in the suit that StockX “has chosen to compete in the NFT market not by taking the time to develop its own intellectual property rights, but rather by blatantly freeriding, almost exclusively, on the back of Nike’s famous trademarks and associated goodwill.”

Meanwhile, the representative of the company did not respond to the request for comment. Nike or its lawyers were not able to give statements regarding the lawsuit as well, according to CNBC.

However, Nike said that StockX started selling NFTs of its sneakers last month, and it also told buyers that in the future, they would be able to redeem the tokens for the physical versions of the sneakers. In the complaint, Nike said that StockX sold more than 500 Nike-branded NFTs.