Nike continues to take legal action against independent companies that it alleges are copying its trademarked sneaker designs. This time, the target is John Geiger, a well-known customizer-turned-designer who launched his own lifestyle brand in 2017.
According to Law360, an amended complaint filed by Nike Thursday added John Geiger Collection LLC as a defendant to an existing lawsuit against Los Angeles-based La La Land Production & Design Inc. Nike claims that Geiger’s “GF-01” shoes infringe the trade dress of its Air Force 1 and that La La Land is helping manufacture the lookalikes.
“By marketing and selling shoes using Nike’s registered Air Force 1 trade dress, John Geiger knowingly and intentionally creates confusion in the marketplace and capitalizes on Nike’s reputation and the reputation of its iconic shoes,” Nike states in the complaint.
If the name La La Land Production & Design Inc. sounds familiar, you may remember it as the production company named in the Nike v. Warren Lotas lawsuit over his “bootleg” Dunk designs last year. While Nike’s lawsuit against La La Land is being expanded, it no longer includes Lotas, who settled with the company last December.
La La Land has already responded to Nike’s latest move, having filed an amended counterclaim against the sportswear giant. It accuses the company of using “unduly aggressive, disproportionate, highly burdensome litigation strategies” to enforce “questionable” trade dress rights.
More at https://www.complex.com/sneakers/nike-sues-john-geiger-air-force-1
