Nike and Shoe Surgeon settle trademark dispute

Sportswear giant Nike has secured a permanent injunction against the Shoe Surgeon. The duo entered a confidential agreement to settle a trademark infringement and counterfeiting case, initially filed by Nike, as well as a defamation counterclaim sought by the Shoe Surgeon.

A proposed judgement has been filed with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York and is now waiting to be signed off by the Manhattan district judge overseeing the case. In it, the parties have come to a resolution that will restrict Shoe Surgeon’s commercial use of the Nike name.

The custom footwear retailer is required to no longer operate in a way that could cause confusion with Nike’s products and trademarks, including offering workshops using the brand’s trademarks. Shoe Surgeon has thus acknowledged Nike’s trademarks and applications, and has further agreed that its “customisation” was not authorised by the brand nor did it use materials manufactured by the brand.

Shoe Surgeon, which is to also pay an undisclosed sum, will be able to offer limited “one of one” services that must include “clear, conspicuous written disclosure” that such services are not authorised by Nike and will not impact the performance of the brand’s shoes. The company has been given 30 days to remove all infringing or counterfeit products from its website.

Nike filed its lawsuit against the LA-based retailer in July 2024, claiming “unauthorised wholesale usurpation of the Nike brand”. In the filing, numbered 1:24-cv-05307, Nike said Shoe Surgeon, and its founder Dominic Ciambrone, were seeking to “build an entire multifaceted retail empire through their unauthorised use of Nike’s trademark rights”, which is said to have led to “widespread infringement” and the “willful counterfeiting of iconic Nike products”.

The claim particularly referenced Shoe Surgeon’s sale of Nike products, its collaborations with other rightsholders using the brand’s intellectual property and the sale of “shoe-making” kits that contain materials and instructions to make “bootleg” Nike products. Nike said that the company also teaches the public how to make new fake “Nike”-branded shoes from scratch via downloadable classes – all of this while “falsely leading consumers to believe that Nike is affiliated with their business”.

Shoe Surgeon had initially denied Nike’s claims but noted that it did work with an authentic Nike shoe bought from the brand that it then customises. The company came forth with a counterclaim, arguing that Nike’s use of the term “counterfeit”, among others, was defamatory. Shoe Surgeon argued that it was not counterfeiting but customising.