Susan Scafidi, director of Fordham Law’s Fashion Law Institute, predicts in a Bloomberg Law article that Nike’s lawsuit against a sneaker artist known as “The Shoe Surgeon,” if decided in Nike’s favor, will cause a shift in the customization market.
But Nike has now accused Dominic Ciambrone’s growing business of an illegal scheme fraught with counterfeits and unauthorized collaborations with brands like Jack Daniel’s, eBay Inc., and Ruffles. The iconic brand sued him on July 15 seeking $60 million for trademark infringement and counterfeiting.
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“This is about a pair of cultural movements—the movement of customization, but also the resurgence of logo mania and brand tribalism that are coming together in a way that is finally at loggerheads,” said Susan Scafidi, a professor at Fordham University School of Law.
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Scafidi predicted the lawsuit, if decided in Nike’s favor, will cause a shift in the customization market and chill other aspiring sneaker artists on platforms like Etsy.
“We’ll see that dialed back a bit because it will be more dangerous to try to make a profit doing that work,” she said.
Read “Nike Fires Warning Shot to Sneaker Artists With Trademark Suit” in Bloomberg Law.