Nike Sues MSCHF for Trademark Infringement on Lil Nas X ‘Satan Shoes’ Collaboration

That didn’t take long. Nike filed a federal lawsuit alleging trademark infringement against a Brooklyn, New York, company that made customized Nike Air Max 97s with “satanic-themed detailing.”

via: Newsweek

The controversial sneakers are being promoted in collaboration with rapper and singer Lil Nas X, as a tie-in for the artist’s recent music video for the single “Montero (Call Me By Your Name).”

Like the video, the MSCHF shoes incorporate Satanic imagery. The sneakers feature a bronze pentagram and an inverted cross containing a drop of actual human blood. MSCHF’s design came in a limited edition run of 666 pairs with a $1,018 price tag and sold out in under a minute after going on sale at 11:00 a.m. EST Monday, as one of MSCHF’s founders, Daniel Greenberg, confirmed to Newsweek.

Nike’s trademark infringement complaint, filed in the Eastern District of New York, argues that MSCHF’s design creates a “likelihood of injury to Nike’s business reputation and goodwill.” The lawsuit also states the shoes created a “likelihood of consumer confusion, mistake, and deception as to the source of origin or relationship of Nike’s products and MSCHF’s Satan Shoes, and has otherwise competed unfairly by unlawfully trading on and using” Nike’s trademarks without permission.

Nike has taken increasingly aggressive legal action against companies that customize its shoes. In December, it settled a similar trademark infringement lawsuit. It’s also increasingly going after companies that make fake Nikes.