"Satan shoes": sports shoes with human blood are released 0:58
New York (CNN Business) -
Nike is suing the art collective behind Lil Nas X's "Satan Shoes" that have sparked an angry backlash on social media.
In a lawsuit filed Monday, Nike accuses MSCHF Product Studio, Inc. of trademark infringement on the 666 pairs of modified Nike tennis shoes made in collaboration with the "Old Town Road" singer.
All 666 pairs were sold out on Monday.
MSCHF has not responded to repeated requests for comment on the lawsuit.
A screenshot from Satanshoes.com shows Lil Nas X holding one of the modified shoes.
In its lawsuit, Nike asks the court to order MSCHF to "permanently stop" the orders for the "unauthorized" Lil Nas X Satan Shoes.
The lawsuit notes that social media users have threatened to boycott Nike over controversial tennis shoes.
Lil Nas X is not listed as part of the lawsuit.
Representatives for the musician did not respond to calls or emails requesting comment Monday night.
"MSCHF and its unauthorized Satan Shoes are likely to cause confusion and dilution and create an erroneous association between MSCHF products and Nike," the sportswear company says in its complaint.
"In the short time since Satan Shoes was announced, Nike has suffered significant damage to its goodwill, even among consumers who believe that Nike supports Satanism."
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Nike has issued statements to various media outlets, including CNN, clarifying that it "does not have a relationship with Lil Nas or MSCHF" and that "Nike did not design or launch these shoes and we do not endorse them."
The modified black and red Nike Air Max 97 sneakers, adorned with a bronze pentagram charm and a drop of human blood on the midsole, are the latest custom shoe product from Nike released by MSCHF.
The company also released a pair of bespoke "Jesus Shoes" in 2019.
In its complaint, Nike says that the Satan Shoes prominently features its famous Swoosh logo.
The controversy began last week with the release of the music video for Lil Nas X's latest single, "Montero (Call Me By Your Name)."
The video portrays the singer provocatively dressed as a fallen angel and demon who rides a stripper tube to hell where he gives the devil a lap dance.
Following the release of the video on Friday, Lil Nas teased the launch of her new Satan Shoes on Twitter.
A scene from the Little Nas X video for the song "Montero."
The day after Lil Nas X released the music video, he responded to the reactions with a post that read, “I spent my entire adolescence hating myself because all the shit you all preached would happen to me for being gay. ", wrote.
"So I hope they are angry, remain angry, feel the same anger that you teach us to have towards ourselves."
What trademark attorneys say
The episode has all the ingredients for a potential historic legal battle over the current limits of intellectual property law, according to several trademark attorneys, who say Nike has a solid foundation for its lawsuit.
"Yes, Nike has an interesting trademark infringement and tarnishing dilution case," said Alexandra J. Roberts, professor of trademark and entertainment law at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law.
“Consumers can be misled into believing that Satan Shoes are licensed or endorsed by Nike.
Nike could also argue that the use damages its reputation by associating its brand with satanic symbols.
Roberts and other attorneys said the trademark issue at stake is commonly known as the First Sale Doctrine, which gives people who purchase a copy of a copyrighted product the right to resell it without the explicit permission of the creator.
It's a legal foundation that gives artists who buy and repurpose individual copyrighted products the ability to express and benefit from their own creativity, according to trademark attorney Josh Gerben of Gerben Perrott PLLC.
Gerben noted that Nike tennis restylers like MSCHF often sell their work on online marketplaces.
"There are all kinds of artists that go out and take a shoe and do a lot of custom art on the shoe and maybe resell it for $ 1,000-3,000," Gerben said.
"This is something that Nike is very aware of and has done absolutely nothing to mess with because there is a tennis culture here."
The problem for Lil Nas X and MSCHF in this case, according to Gerben, is the hundreds of shoes that were sold, as individual artworks are easier to defend in court than mass-produced items.
"People think Nike is after something because there are a lot of these [shoes]," he said.
“It is not just a work of art that an artist took a shoe and made.
It's that someone took a bunch of Nike shoes, customized them in exactly the same way, and is selling them to some extent in such a sophisticated way that people think Nike is involved. "
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