What Are Those?

Yesterday it was reported that Nike has filed paperwork with the offices of USPTO to trademark the design of the Air Jordan 1 and the Air Jordan 1 Low. What this states is that the design is recognized by the US Government to be owned by Nike. This comes at a time where bootlegging popular shoes are at an all time high. From the Air Jordan 1 bootleg “One in the Chamber” by Fugazi all the way to YG’s “4hunnid” Cortez based sneaker.

Bootlegging alone has been a thing since the beginning of fashion. First started with clothes by Let’s not forget that some of the hottest pair of shoes to ever grace the fashion world is a bootleg of the Nike Air Force One’s. However this should not come as a surprise to anyone who claims to be a sneaker heard. Warren Lotus is the most recent person to try and bootleg a Nike shoe. He took Nike’s signature “dunk” model and put his own spin on it. Unlike what Nigo did with Bape, Nike did not take too kindly to the bootleg dunks and repeatedly filed suits agains Warren and his designs. This is not the first time either, Nike has been known to shut down bootleggers who profit of their designs, just ask Ari Saal Forman, the creator of some of the most famous bootlegs to never see the light of the day, the Air Force One “Menthol 10”.

Oddly enough Nike was recently hit with a suit of their own for designing a shoe based off the United States Post Office without the necessary clearance to do the shoe. However, with the recent filing of the trademark for the AJ 1 and AJ 1low silhouette it begs the question, “should the people creating these Nike Bootlegs start looking for lawyers?