THE US BASED sportswear giant Nike has filed legal action against a 16-year-old business owner running a sneaker consignment store in Dublin’s city centre.
Brandon Buckley is the owner of the ‘Swoosh Supplied’ shop on Upper Abbey Street, which shares a name with the term Nike uses for its famous logo.
Nike filed plenary action through the High Court to sue Buckley for allegedly infringing on its trademark.
The company began legal proceedings on Thursday through Nike Innovate C.V, the section of Nike which holds its patents and trademarks.
Swoosh Supplied is a consignment store for high-end shoes, with the business’s social media showing that it trades in Nike, Yeezy and Supreme brand trainers as well as several other brands.
Consignment stores operate by providing retailers a place for their unsold products, with the shop-owner and retailer splitting the profits once the item, trainers in this case, is sold.
Nike sent a cease and desist letter to Swoosh Supplied last May according to the shop’s website.
The solicitor’s letter ordered Swoosh Supplied to cease using the Swoosh name and to “immediately assign and transfer control of the domain name www.swoosh.ie to Nike.”
“It has come to our client’s attention that you are operating a footwear, clothing and accessories retail store under the trade mark ‘Swoosh Supplied’/’Swoosh’, promoting and selling Nike’s products without authorisation,” the letter stated.
Solicitors for Nike also argued that the shop’s name “is likely to deceive the public into a mistaken belief” that he was “sponsored, or endorsed by, or otherwise affiliated or connected with Nike, which you are not”.
Nike’s ‘Swoosh’ logo was designed by a student at the University of Portland in 1971 for $35 dollars, the equivalent of $256 or €235 today.
When contacted by The Journal, Swoosh sent its response to May’s cease and desist in which Buckley said that Swoosh Supplied would take on the “David vs Goliath case”.
Buckley described Swoosh, which recently celebrated its one year anniversary in business, as a “business run by a young 16-year-old entrepreneur”.
He added that he had “turned his personal interest and love in sneakers and streetwear into a internet business long before opening up on Upper Abbey Street”.
It is unclear what developments may have taken place between Nike and Swoosh Supplied between May and last week’s court filing.
The Journal contacted Nike and its solicitors on Friday.
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