Nike Officially Suing BAPE for Stealing Sneaker Designs

Nike is suing Japanese model BAPE for blatantly stealing a few of its most iconic sneaker designs.

Based on court docket data from the footwear large, BAPE is accused of being a “copyist whose infringements have recently grown to become a significant danger to Nike’s rights.” The Oregon-based model additionally claimed the Japanese label’s “current footwear business revolves around copying Nike’s iconic designs.”

The sneakers in query embrace the BAPE STA for its similarities to the Air Power 1 Low; the BAPE STA Mid for the Air Power 1 Mid; the SK8 STA for the Dunk Low; the COURT STA Excessive for the Air Jordan 1 Excessive; and COURT STA for the Air Jordan 1 Low.

The grievance additional states that BAPE began promoting its plagiarized footwear in the USA in 2005 and has since stored promoting these trademark-infringing sneakers.

The corporate famous that “BAPE’s copying is and always has been unacceptable to Nike, and because BAPE’s infringements have recently grown to become a significant danger to Nike’s rights, Nike must act now.”

Since a few of the BAPE sneakers are often known as Air Power 1s or Dunks amongst secondary market distributors, the grievance claims that the types are complicated patrons.

Nike claims that BAPE “refused” when Nike “asked it to stop” after notifying the Japanese label of its infringements.

Wow… Nike simply sued Bape 👀 Filed 1/25/2023 #nike #bape #lawsuit #TM #AF1 #AJ1 pic.twitter.com/44BW5twr1M

— Sneaker & Streetwear Authorized Providers℠ (@SneakerLegal) January 26, 2023