This Friday is Valentine’s Day, and, for athletic footwear and apparel giant Nike, love is in the “Air.” For Nike, February 14, 2025, will be all about celebrating the rerelease of the shoe that launched its fashion empire: the Air Jordan 1.
This year marks the fortieth anniversary of Nike’s Air Jordan sneakers, and the footwear giant is going all out to celebrate the brand’s inaugural release – the Air Jordan 1 High ’85 “Bred.” The shoe also goes by the “Banned” moniker due to its infamous history of being “banned” by the NBA. This history, however, was largely embellished as part of Nike’s original marketing campaign surrounding the shoe. In reality, Michael Jordan only received a fine for wearing the shoes (which Nike happily paid).
Nike is leaning heavily into the shoe’s history, both real and myth, to promote this Friday’s release. Employees caught wearing Air Jordan 1s at Nike’s Oregon campus received citations as an ode to Jordan’s citations from the NBA. Nike also went as far as censoring Air Jordan 1s on Nike.com and on the Michael Jordan statue at the United Center in Chicago, as the brand toyed with the idea of what could have happened if it hadn’t paid the NBA’s fine.
Beyond this marketing campaign, Nike has also led a full court press to protect the invaluable intellectual property associated with the Air Jordan 1, including registering the shoe’s design as trade dress with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”). The overall design of the Air Jordan 1 achieved registration back in June of 2021 (U.S. Reg. No. 6368694) and covers “the design of the material panels that form the exterior body of the shoe, the design of the panel on top of the shoe that includes the eyelets for the shoe laces, the design of the ridge pattern on the sides of the sole of the shoe, the design of a stitched line running along the midsole of the shoe, and the relative position of these elements to each other.” Nike also successfully registered the shoe’s sole design back in December of 2009 (U.S. Reg. No. 3721064).
In addition to the Air Jordan 1, Nike owns trade dress applications and registrations for many of its other prominent shoe models including Nike’s Cortez, Uptempo, Air Max ’97, Air Max ‘90, and Air Force 1, as well as the Air Jordan 1s through the Air Jordan 13s.
Product design trade dress is not considered inherently distinctive, meaning that any application to register trade dress will require extra strategic considerations. While this previously made trade dress registration is somewhat uncommon, brands like Nike have increasingly been pouring more resources into registering the design of their products and/or product packaging. Today, there are thousands of active applications and registrations for trade dress as more and more trade dress owners have followed suit. This makes understanding how to successfully navigate trade dress applications an integral part of modern trademark practice.
If your business is also looking to protect its trade dress, Saunders & Silverstein can help. Our team is adept at handling trade dress matters and can help you through the processes of clearance, prosecution, and enforcement.
By: Haley Holt | hholt@sandsip.com
