Aaron Hope 
BREAKING NEWS:
Fakes are the bane of a true sneakerhead’s existence. Bootlegs diminish the value of rare collectibles, make buying dope kicks a pain, and are almost always made of inferior materials. Nike hasn’t done much in the legal arena to slow the counterfeiters, but that all changes today with a suit filed in Virginia’s US District Court. That’s where Nike Inc. seeks to gain control of 66 domain names registered through VeriSign Inc., that the Swoosh claims point to bogus storefronts.
Not only are these cybersquatters accused of registering domains with trademarked terms, they’re peddling Mickey Mouse copies of our favorite kicks and flooding the market with junk. No one has stepped up to defend the case since its January 28th filing, and each of the sixty-plus cases might have to be decided separately, under the Uniform Domain Name Resolution Policy online arbitration process. Stick with Sneaker News for updates on what could be the biggest shake-up in ‘variants’ since the net made them so easy to distribute over the past 15 or so years. Info via portfolio.com.
Image via espn.
