In this week's post, we see that Nike has been aggressive in enforcing its intellectual property rights, particularly its copyright and trademark rights when it comes to customization art.

Nike Sues Drip Creationz for Intellectual Property Infringement

Nike has begun to track down customers and companies and accusing them of infringement of its trademarks and copyrights for their customization art, namely, the customizing of Nike’s apparel, particularly its shoes.

There is a trend in which companies buy wholesale amounts of Nike shoes, customize them in-house, and then resell them on the Internet for a profit.  The amount of customization on the shoes can vary from a simple re-coloring to complete deconstruction and reconstruction of the shoes with additional materials and changes.

As a result of Nike’s shoes being a target of customization art, Nike has been sending cease and desist letters to multiple online companies and brought suit against several others.  One of Nike’s lawsuits against Drip Creationz has drawn significant attention as Drip Creationz is one of the best in customization art and has become a customer favorite.  Consequently, this suit highlights the choices famous brands must make when determining whether to pursue infringement actions against niche companies and brands that can potentially result in a loss of goodwill in the eyes of its customers.  

Read the full article here.

Click to read the previous Weekly IP Buzz on Thriving Attorney.

For more posts, see our Ideate blog for the latest news and insights into law, business, and culture.

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In addition to publishing Thriving Attorney, Darin M. Klemchuk is founder of Klemchuk LLP, a litigation, intellectual property, and transactional law firm located in Dallas, Texas. Click to read more about Darin Klemchuk's practice as an intellectual property lawyer. For more on the latest developments in IP law, see the blogs Ideate and IP Questions Answered.