Nike’s Air Force 1 just celebrated 30 years, hitting stores way back in 1982 as the first basketball shoe to use its Nike Air technology. It’s been a huge success for the brand, and has become a collector’s item for sneakerheads. Its recent appearance in front of the Supreme Court, normally a place where sneakers don't dare to tread, may only increase its appeal to collectors.

The trouble began back in 2009 when a small shoemaker, Already LLC, which makes Yums sneakers was sued by Nike for infringing on its Air Force 1 trademark with the design of its Soulja Boy shoes.

The Yums brand owner responded countersued before Nike “issued a covenant not to sue, promising not to raise any trademark or unfair competition claims against Already or any affiliated entity based on Already’s existing footwear designs, or any future Already designs,” World Trademark Review reports. “Nike then moved to dismiss its claims with prejudice, and to dismiss Already’s counterclaim without prejudice on the ground that the covenant had extinguished the case or controversy.”Continue reading...

The executives who run Nike like to think of themselves at people who don’t do anything halfway. They go all out, "just do it" and climb the highest obstacles. They are ready for anything.

Well, that may all be great for selling shoes, but one thing is true: the company is going to be arguing a case in front of the highest rung of the U.S. judicial system. That's right, Nike is headed to the Supreme Court, but not by choice. As Thomson Reuters' legal blog summarizes the stand-off, "Supreme Court forces Nike to defend its right not to defend its trademarks."

The case – Already LLC v. Nike – started three years ago about sneaker trademarks and is now “a debate over arcane legal jurisdictional issues,” Portland Business Journal reports. The original claim involved Already’s Yums brand of sneakers, which included two particular shoe designs – Soulja Boy and Sugar — that Nike thought looked a whole lot like its Air Force 1s.Continue reading...