It's a trial he didn't expect. Just over a year ago, for LeBron James' NBA scoring record, Dominic Ciambrone, aka “Shoe Surgeon” (“the shoe surgeon”), had thus received an order from Nike for a customized LeBron 20 model, in order to celebrate the big evening of the “King”.
A consecration for the 38-year-old artist, who has become very popular with the stars, with his shoes modified with large reinforcements of exotic textures, precious stones and gold leaf.
Except the wind has changed. In July, Nike has thus filed a complaint against Dominic Ciambrone, accusing him of “counterfeiting and trademark infringement”The equipment manufacturer is therefore demanding 60 million dollars from him!
Phil Knight's firm nevertheless explains “enhance your relationship with the Shoe Surgeon” and not have ” no problem “ with Dominic Ciambrone's unique creations based on Nike models. However, she accuses him of having gone too far, Nike now judging that the activities developed by the Californian luxury shoemaker are “illegal, mislead consumers and create confusion in the marketplace.”
A business now too “industrial”?
In short, the Beaverton company had no problem when Dominic Ciambrone was making a few ultra-luxury models; it is the “industrial” turn taken recently by his company, “Surgeon Worldwide”, which poses a problem. As well as the development of its academy, which Nike accuses of having become a “counterfeit factory”.
For the company, which now employs 80 people, it is in any case a huge setback, especially since the French brand Goyard also took Dominic Ciambrone to court in June for counterfeiting.
“Caught off guard”the latter explains that he wants to find a solution “amicably” with Nike and avoid an unbalanced arm wrestling match. “I don't want to retaliate. I don't want to go to war.”
“It’s something that’s hard for artists to understand, especially: What is creative license and don’t I have the right to use whatever I want in the expression of art?”explained Preetha Chakrabarti, a trademark lawyer, to the Los Angeles Times. “Actually, as far as trademark law goes, that's not really the case.” Especially when you make a business out of it.
