Air Jordan 1 sneakers with StockX's 'verified authentic' tag.
CREDIT: Getty
There’s yet another winkle in the legal showdown between Nike and StockX after new court filings from August were unsealed and shared to social media Friday.
According to @SneakerLegal on X, the August filing states that Nike is asking the court to rule two of its claims — willful counterfeiting and false advertising — in the sportswear behemoth’s favor prior to the start of the trial. The request stems from the trial’s discovery phase in which it was revealed that StockX admitted to letting 77 pairs of Nike and/or Jordan Brand footwear pass through its authentication safeguards.
“StockX’s argument that Nike merely discovered 77 physical counterfeit pairs (which it liberally construes as a ‘handful’) does nothing to avoid judgment in Nike’s favor on counterfeiting and false advertising and is appalling coming from a platform that promises consumers to shop with ‘complete confidence’ ‘every time’ and that ‘nothing slips through the cracks,” the filing reads.
Sneakers on display at StockX’s Detroit office during 2018. Credit: Getty
Nike’s motion goes on to mention that discovery shed light on even more counterfeit sales including a “fraud ring” which was able to get away with selling more than 1,800 pairs on StockX before it was thwarted. Nike further elaborates by drawing a connection between StockX and disgraced reseller Michael Malekzadeh (aka Zadeh Kicks), who was charged with operating a multimillion-dollar sneaker Ponzi scheme in 2022. The August filing calls Malekzadeh StockX’s “largest buyer”
Later in the document, Nike lawyers argued that the discovery of counterfeits passing through the resale platform amounts to StockX admitting “its authenticators cannot determine if a product is authentic” and that the Detroit-based marketplace was knowingly selling fake footwear.
The rift between the two companies dates back to February 2022, when Nike filed a lawsuit against StockX for the latter’s alleged trademark-infringing NFTs. The courtroom proceedings escalated from there, with Nike later adding the counterfeiting-related claims addressed here.
StockX was quick to respond to the Friday social media posts with a public statement, arguing that it has contributed to the fight against counterfeit goods. “Last week, we filed a motion for summary judgment against Nike to fight a deceptive, years-long campaign to diminish the integrity of our marketplace and team,” the resale platform wrote. Its full statement appears below.
“Nike’s claims are completely misguided. Contrary to their allegations, StockX is a leader in the fight against counterfeiting, a pervasive issue affecting brands globally. It’s why verification has been at our core since inception, and because of our leadership in this space Nike has previously recommended StockX to its customers, partnered with StockX, and praised StockX as “a good actor.” We have invested millions of dollars in technology, training, and tooling to deliver on our commitment to our customers, and we stand behind our verification process with our Buyer Promise.
The products in question in this case amount to a mere 0.0004 percent of the 17.8 million Nike sneakers StockX reviewed while this litigation was ongoing. Compare that to the more than $80,000,000 of suspected counterfeit sneakers alone that StockX has prevented from being sold on our platform. StockX has long done our part to prevent bad actors from trading on our platform, but we can’t do it alone. It’s a shame that rather than work with us to fight fakes, Nike has opted to use its resources to pursue meritless, expensive litigation and persecute a company that has long worked to fight the prevalence of counterfeits.”
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