Across the globe, at any given time, it is inevitable that teams of lawyers are toiling away on Nike’s dime in an effort to fight the seemingly endless supply of counterfeit goods that have saturated the market, sometimes being offered up in close proximity to some of the nearly $40 billion in authentic products that Nike sells each year. When it comes to counterfeits, footwear is routinely among the most heavily-targeted types of products in the world, and since the Beaverton, Oregon-based sportswear behemoth that is Nike lives at the tippy-top of the footwear totem pole, it is only natural that it is one of the most heavily-targeted companies in the $1.2 trillion-plus fake trade.
Alongside luxury names like Louis Vuitton, Hermeś, and Rolex, Nike has consistently earned itself a seat at this doubled-edged-sword of a table – where companies are both so well-known and so heavily plagued by fakes – thanks to its arsenal of instantly recognizable, and thus, enormously valuable trademarks. From its name and world-famous swoosh logo to slogans like “Just Do It,” and thanks to truly large-scale marketing endeavors and the roster of the world’s most esteemed athletes (and non-athlete designers and endorsers) on its payroll, Nike has so thoroughly tapped into the consumer consciousness that its trademarks are rife with reputation and all but begging to be knocked-off en masse… The Fashion Law