Nike & John Geiger Resolve Air Force 1 Trademark Infringement Lawsuit
Written by SOURCE on August 31, 2022
One of Nike’s lawsuits over lookalike Air Force 1s is over—amicably.
Designer John Geiger announced today that Nike’s trade dress infringement lawsuit, filed in August 2021, has been resolved.
“Nike and John Geiger have resolved the lawsuit related to Nike’s Air Force 1 trade dress and John Geiger’s footwear products, specifically his GF-01 shoes,” reads a statement posted today by Geiger. “The lawsuit has been resolved through amicable resolution that includes a consent judgement. As part of the resolution, John Geiger has agreed to modify the design of his GF-01 shoes. Nike respects John Geiger as a designer and other designers like him, and both parties are pleased to resolve this dispute in a way that allows John Geiger to continue to build his brand while also respecting Nike’s intellectual property rights in its iconic Air Force 1 trade dress.”
The lawsuit stemmed from Geiger’s GF-01 design, which the Swoosh at the time said “knowingly and intentionally creates confusion in the marketplace and capitalizes on Nike’s reputation and the reputation” of the Air Force 1. Meanwhile, Geiger’s defense maintained that he changed enough elements on the GF-01 to differentiate it and that Nike’s trade dress protections were too vague.
Nike’s August 2021 filing against Geiger was an amendment to an existing lawsuit against Los Angeles-based La La Land Production & Design Inc., named as the manufacturer of the Geiger GF-01 in the amendment (Geiger disputed this, saying the company only produced a prototype). No stranger to controversy, La La Land Production & Design Inc. also produced Warren Lotas’ bootleg “Dunk” shoes, the subject of a 2020 Nike trademark infringement lawsuit which was eventually settled in December of that year.
Geiger was quick to challenge Nike’s amendment, asking the central district of California court to dismiss the complaint in November 2021. “If it doesn’t get dismissed we are prepared for a yearlong process and [to] fight it in court,” he told Complex in a statement.
In February, Geiger countersued, essentially arguing that Nike had diluted its own trade dress protections through modified versions of the Air Force 1 such as Travis Scott’s collaboration and a Serena Williams-inspired pair. His defense also argued that details such as the slope of the GF-01’s toe box and the height of the midsole, along with its higher price point and stockist availability, were enough to separate it from the Air Force 1.
Nike did not have a statement at the time of publishing. Beyond Geiger agreeing to modify the design of the GF-01 sneakers going forward, terms of the resolution were not made public.
