Update (04/18):
Another development in the StockX vs. Nike legal battle has surfaced as court documents reveal that Nike has yet to provide documentation in regards to the Swoosh’s claim that the aftermarket platform verifies and sells fake sneakers.
The Court is left with the possibility that Nike has not complied with its obligations because it is narrowly interpreting the Court’s directive to search for and produce documents related to secondary visual inspections as limited to the team that ultimately identifies counterfeit shoes.
According to Court Documents on April 7, 2023
For the avoidance of doubt, Nike must produce documents it uses, creates, or distributes that describe or identify possible “tells” of counterfeit products, even if the purpose of these materials is not to assist in an inspection by the reviewer but to trigger a more fulsome investigation by Nike.
StockX, and the court, are compelling Nike to provide said documents weeks after the latest development in the legal saga as Nike claimed StockX sold 38 pairs of fake Air Jordan 1s.
Following the developed, StockX issued a statement regarding the recent court documents.
We are pleased with the Court’s decision on this matter and look forward to reviewing the relevant documentation from Nike.
We remain confident in our legal defenses and stand by our verification process as one of the first and best in the industry.
Statement via StockX
This isn’t the first case in which Nike has failed to provide documentation as the platform claimed that Nike failed to provide discovery documents on December 14, 2022.
The original story from March 17, 2023, and the update from March 20, 2023, can be found below.
The StockX vs. Nike legal saga continues as recently unveiled court documents state that StockX sold 38 pairs of fake Air Jordan 1s to a customer/reseller.
Update (03/20):
StockX issued a statement to Nice Kicks about the alleged 38 fake pairs:
While we can’t comment on pending litigation, we are confident in our legal defenses and have continuously supplied appropriate information in a timely manner. We stand by our verification process as one of the first and best in the industry, and in 2022 alone, rejected more than 330K products worth nearly $100M.
StockX also has a Buyer Promise in place, which is central to our mission of offering a safe and secure marketplace for both buyers and sellers. If we make a mistake and incorrectly verify an item, we’re committed to making it right for our customers.
Statement via StockX
The original story from March 17, 2023, can be found below.
The documents state that the resale platform “authenticated” (wording which the company removed from its product pages as of November 2022) 38 fake pairs of Air Jordan 1s last spring.
Nike visited the reseller in July and confirmed that at least 38 pairs that the customer received through the secondary market platform were fake. Nike did not take possession of the pairs and the customer returned the shoes to StockX for a full refund.
StockX’s current Buyer Promise policy, last updated in November 2022, states that once “an order is created and we are unable to offer returns, exchanges, or swaps. You can always resell the item on our platform if you no longer wish to keep it.”
The reseller spoke to Sockjig, a well-known and respected voice in the sneaker space, about the pairs in question.
The reseller purchased multiple pairs of the Air Jordan 1 High OG “Mocha”; Air Jordan 1 High OG “University Blue”; and the Air Jordan 1 High OG “Hyper Royal” with 38 of them being fake, according to court documents.
The reseller purchased the colorways with the span of March and July 2022 as the market price dipped “with the intent of holding and flipping later,” Sockjig stated.
The documents tie back to the ongoing NFT lawsuit where Nike claims that StockX is infringing on its trademarks and causing confusion in the marketplace with its NFT program that allows customers to redeem the shoe as a physical good. Nike claims that StockX’s “99.95% authentic” is a baseless claim as StockX allegedly can not prove that the sneakers on its platform are “authentic.”
Stay tuned to Nice Kicks on Instagram as the story develops.
