Nike has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against two popular sneaker designers and the manufacturer of their footwear.
The Swoosh filed yesterday in the southern district of New York a lawsuit that spans six different complaints. Nike says defendants Nickwon Arvinger and David Weeks of By Kiy LLC (aka Kool Kiy) and Bill Omar Carrasquillo of Reloaded Merch LLC (Omi aka “Omi in a Hellcat”) have been “promoting, copying, and selling” Nike’s designs, namely the Air Jordan 1 and Dunk, as their own.
Nike’s lawyers say they notified Kiy of the alleged infringement on August 6, 2021, and attempted to reach a resolution with the company to no avail. They also contacted Omi on October 5, 2002 with a similar warning. The document sent to Omi, which was viewed by Complex, stated the brand had one week to contact Nike’s lawyers to discuss the matter or that it would face a federal lawsuit. Despite these advance warnings, yesterday’s lawsuit alleges that both Kiy and Omi have continued to profit off of the infringing designs.
In the lawsuit, Nike also takes aim at China-based manufacturer Xiamen Wandering Planet Import and Export Co., Ltd. (Wandering Planet for short). The filing states that Wandering Planet played a pivotal role in the infringement by providing the resources to produce shoes for Kiy and Omi. “By supplying Kiy and Omi with knockoff sneakers using Nike’s registered Air Jordan 1 and Dunk trade dress, Wandering Planet knowingly participated in a scheme to intentionally create confusion in the marketplace and capitalize on it,” the lawsuit reads.
Along with trademark infringement, Nike says that Kiy and Omi’s designs are also grounds for counts of false designation of origin, unfair competition, and trademark dilution. The Swoosh’s lawyers ague that the alleged knockoff sneakers are likely to confuse customers about the origin of the products and Nike’s connection to them, especially on the secondary market where it highlights examples of resellers using variations of the Air Jordan 1 name to advertise Kiy’s products.
Kiy and Omi had a public disagreement of their own last year. According to Omi, the two competing designers had a falling out over their manufacturer. “I told him listen, if you don’t call back the manufacturer, I am going to release your shoe for cheaper,” Omi said. “So what I did was, I took the shoe, I took the brand and ran with it. It worked out for both of us honestly, because we’re both kind of popping off of it.”
Reves / KIY sneaker and street apparel pop-up is coming to the City of West Hollywood on Saturday April 16, and Sunday, April 17, 2022, at 8505 Santa Monica Boulevard, on the northwest corner of Santa Monica and La Cienega Boulevards. The retail event will run from 11am – 5pm.
The pop-up is bound to draw huge crowds. The last event at that location was when the anime streetwear brand Hypland hosted its Yu-Gi-Oh Pop-Up last October. Lines curled up La Cienega to Holloway Drive throughout the day with fans waiting patiently to get their hands on officially licensed Yu-Gi-Oh swag. Some fans of the anime gaming series camped out as early as the previous night according to some tweets.
The upcoming Reveps Paris / pop-up specializes in selling bootleg Nike Air Jordan knockoffs that are highly collectable and rely on hype culture to sellout venues in places like Miami and New York City.
Reves Paris is one of the biggest names in bootleg sneakers. The brand adds a lightning bolt in place of the NIKE Swoosh logo, Air Jordan 1.
The Kool Kiy sneaker brand is based out of out of New Jersey. They made their name for their shoes that also borrows heavily from Nike’s Air Jordans with the similar lightning bolt logo.
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