A New York district court found resale platform StockX liable for selling counterfeit Nike shoes and will now have to face a jury trial over whether it unlawfully used Nike’s trademarks for non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Judge Valerie Caproni granted Nike motion for partial summary judgment on 4 March in its counterfeit dispute with StockX. The online reseller was found to have sold four pairs of counterfeit Nikes to company investigators and 33 pairs of counterfeit shoes to another customer.

The judge, however, denied Nike’s other claims in its motion including false advertising, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false designation of origin and injury to business reputation. The outstanding claims are to be settled at trial, which will take place between 15 June 2025 and 15 November 2025.

Founded in 2016, StockX is an online marketplace and clothing reseller, primarily of sneakers.

The dispute dates back to 2022 when Nike accused StockX of infringing its trademarks through NFTs. 

Responding to the decision in a statement, StockX said that it was “pleased that the court denied Nike’s claims related to false advertising and that the judge rejected Nike’s allegations of wilfulness as it relates to counterfeiting”. 

It continued that the products in question “amount to a mere 0.0004% of the 17.8 million Nike sneakers StockX reviewed while this litigation was ongoing. Compare that to the more than $80m of suspected counterfeit sneakers alone that StockX has prevented from being sold on our platform since launching in 2016”.

It added: “It’s a shame that rather than work with us to fight fakes, Nike has instead opted to use its resources to pursue meritless, expensive litigation. We look forward to the opportunity to tell our story.”

The parties must meet no later than 14 March to decide trial dates and provide three mutually convenient dates for the trial between 15 June and 15 November.