Image via Nike
Nike may soon find itself in legal trouble with the US Postal Service (USPS) because of one of its upcoming Air Force 1 styles that looks like the agency’s shipping cards.
The shoe that caught the attention of the postal service was the upcoming Air Force 1 experiment pictured here. It contains design instructions that are naturally borrowed from USPS’s various Priority Mail boxes, including the distinctive red, white, and blue color scheme and a shipping label on the heel. However, there are no official logos of the postal service on the shoe.
The postal service issued a statement this week stating that it does not receive any tax money for its operating expenses and is dependent on the sale of postage, products and services to finance its day-to-day operations. In addition, they claim that sales of unauthorized and unlicensed products such as this Air Force 1 Experimental deny support to the hard-working women and men in the company. The postal service also disputes the position of sportswear in protecting its intellectual property, as Nike recently filed its own lawsuit against the Brooklyn-based collective MSCHF over the release of a custom Satan-themed Air Max 97 in collaboration with the rapper Lil Nas X.
“This is an unfortunate situation where a major brand like Nike, which aggressively protects its own intellectual property, has chosen to use another brand for its own gain,” USPS said in a statement. ‘The postal service is disappointed with Nike’s lack of response to repeated attempts to reach a solution. The Postal Service will act as it deems necessary to protect its valuable IP rights. ”
At the time of publication, Nike had not made any statement about the upcoming Air Force 1 experimental release. Click here to read the full USPS statement about the shoe.
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