Nike Sues Skechers for Allegedly Ripping Off Air Max Design

Nike accused Skechers of ripping off the designs for its VaporMax and Air Max 270 sneakers in a lawsuit filed in a California federal court.

Skechers’s business strategy “includes copying its competitors’ designs to gain market share,” Nike says in a Sept. 30 complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Nike has been selling Air Max sneakers since 1987, and introduced its related VaporMax line in 2017. Nike says it owns design patents covering both shoes. According to the complaint, shoes in Skechers’s Skech-Air line copy NIke’s patented designs.

“Skechers contends it merely takes inspiration ...