{"id":994403,"date":"2021-07-25T08:07:26","date_gmt":"2021-07-25T13:07:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/?p=994403"},"modified":"2021-07-26T06:21:21","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T11:21:21","slug":"nike-files-lawsuit-against-former-employee-turned-sneaker-customizer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/nike-files-lawsuit-against-former-employee-turned-sneaker-customizer\/","title":{"rendered":"Nike Files Lawsuit Against Former Employee Turned Sneaker Customizer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nike’s legal team was busy last week with two lawsuits filed against footwear customizers. The Beaverton-based brand filed a complaint<\/a> in Federal Court on Monday against Customs By Ilene, Inc., or\u00a0Drip Creationz<\/a>\u00a0stating that Drip Creationz has been selling sneakers that are a \u201cknockoff Air Force 1-style shoe\u201d which Drip Creationz calls the D1, and also the poor craftmanship on their custom Air Force 1s having \u201ccrooked proportions, messy stitching, cheap details, and [are] taller than the real Air Force 1 shoes.\u201d Also filed on Monday was another lawsuit by Nike against another customizer who was once an employee of Nike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nike named Jeffrey Waskowiak and KickRich LLC in a similar but unrelated suit, accusing them of trademark infringement in connection with their alleged practice of \u201creselling Nike and Converse products that have been materially altered in ways that the brands have never approved or authorized.\u201d Nike alleged that KickRich’s custom Nike and Converses are robbing Nike and Converse of the ability to \u201ccarefully manage which brands to collaborate with and thoughtfully select where, when, and how often their marks are used to guide the public perception for their iconic brands.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to Jeffrey Waskowiak’s LinkedIn profile<\/a>, he has been operating KickRich<\/a> since December of 2019 where he handmakes custom “made to order” footwear in Portland, OR. Waskowiak attended the Pensole Academy in 2012 before his employment at Nike that lasted just short of five years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the complaint that they filed in a federal court in Oregon on Monday, Nike and Converse claim that Waskowiak and his company KickRich LLC are liable for damages for making custom shoes that \u201ccombine purportedly genuine Nike shoe soles with uppers fabricated entirely by the defendants,\u201d and that include \u201creproductions of Nike\u2019s famous Swoosh design and other protected trade dress,\u201d and then selling them for \u201chundreds or up to several thousand dollars each.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nike and Converse allege that the defendants acquire genuine Nike and Converse footwear, such the Air Jordan 1 and Air Force 1, as well as Converse\u2019s Chuck Taylor All Star, and then, \u201cwithout authorization, alter them in such a manner that constitute new, unauthorized products\u201d over which Nike and Converse \u201chave no control\u201d even though their trademarks \u201cremain intact\u201d on the \u201ccustom\u201d shoes. While these allegedly \u201ccustomized\u201d shoes \u201cmay use pieces of genuine Nike and Converse shoes,\u201d the plaintiff argues that the genuine parts are \u201cso altered and combined with non-genuine parts or other brands\u2019 logos that they can no longer be meaningfully considered Nike or Converse shoes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nike argues that despite the initially authentic footwear is reworked into a materially different product than the original (which removes the defendant’s ability to use the First Sale Doctrine as a defense), the defendant’s custom footwear “falsely affiliates Nike with other brands.” Nike points to shoes that the defendants promote as the \u201cCustom Prime Nike Air Jordan 1,\u201d which it claims \u201cfalsely affiliates Nike with Amazon\u201d by combining an authentic Air Jordan 1 shoe, adding a \u201ccustom leather-lined tongue made from Amazon Prime bubble mailer packaging\u201d and new metal eyelets, and then \u201capplying Amazon Prime branding in multiple locations on the upper right next to the signature Nike Swoosh design.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KickRich displays other custom and commissioned projects that utilize Nike shoes combined with companies that include UPS, Packer Freight, 15 Seconds of Fame, Google, USPS, and MyPlates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
MyPlates.com custom Air Jordan 1 by KickRich<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Nike and Converse claim that the \u201cinfringement and dilution does not end there.\u201d Nike is also taking issue with the fact that KickRich \u201cmake[s] and sell[s] laser cut and digital download \u2018shoe patterns\u2019 that allow others to make fakes for several of Nike\u2019s iconic and trade-dress protected footwear styles, including the Air Force 1, the Dunk, and the Air Jordan 1.\u201d Nike and Converse allege that the defendants \u201crepresent that these patterns include \u2018all necessary shapes for each upper piece, the lining, reinforcements, foams, and heel counter,’\u201d or in other words, \u201cthe defendants\u2019 customers purchase these patterns to make their own fake Nike uppers bearing the famous Swoosh design and other protected trade dress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Stencils for shoemaking sold by KickRich<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

We reached out to both Nike and Waskowiak for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The entire complaint filed by Nike has been posted by TheFashionLaw<\/a> who also first broke the story of the lawsuit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nike’s legal team was busy last week with two lawsuits filed against footwear customizers. The Beaverton-based brand filed a complaint…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3328,"featured_media":994404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"cultivate_rss":[],"class_list":{"2":"type-post"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nNike Files Lawsuit Against Former Employee Turned Sneaker Customizer | Snkrs Day<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nike has filed a lawsuit against Jeffrey Waskowiak and KickRich LLC accusing them of creating trademark infringing custom Nike Jordan shoes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.snkrsday.com\/nike-files-lawsuit-against-former-employee-turned-sneaker-customizer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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