Source: ROSLAN RAHMAN / Getty
Nike isn’t just suing its giant competitors like New Balance and Skechers, but now it’s setting its sights on a YouTuber.
The Swoosh filed a trademark lawsuit against influencer Eben “Cedaz” Fox in a Florida federal court last week, alleging that he’s using his large online following –including over 50,000 subscribers on YouTube– to advertise and encourage his fans to buy fake sneakers.
He’s being accused of selling counterfeit products on YouTube, TikTok and Discord servers and has even partnered with global shipping middleman company PandaBuy to sell them.
PandaBuy is known for its sketchy offerings, and Fox is also listed as a co-owner of W2C.net, which helps ship fake Nike merchandise.
“Fox is the ringleader of an organized counterfeit trafficking community based on Discord, where he and his associates operate Discord servers as marketplaces,” the complaint, filed Dec. 15, alleges.
Nike adds that Fox “has already inspired multiple copycats who seek to replicate Fox’s misdeeds and public stunts in social media posts.”
Fox’s shenanigans are on full display on his YouTube channel. He’s even got one video with over 620,000 views where he buys a legit pair of white Air Force 1s from the Nike store, buys a fake pair from PandaBuy, and then swaps them when making a return. He appears to have successfully passed off the dupes at the store and then gives the real pair to a homeless man.
The video’s comments section is full of comments praising him for being educational and suddenly open to the previously taboo idea of buying replicas, proving Nike’s point that his influence is very real.
Other videos on his channel show him wearing fake Nike Air Mags to Sneakercon, giving fake Nike SBs to pro skateboarders, and even a tutorial video on how to use PandaBuy to buy fake sneakers like the coveted Union LA x Jordan 1.
Nike even labels Fox as a “troll” and wants a court order for Fox to quit the attaching and stop participating in “the manufacturing, transportation, promotion, advertising, and sale of counterfeit Nike products.”
According to Complex, Nike is suing for an undisclosed amount but is tripling the amount in damages and expenses.
See below how social media is reacting to Cedaz’s downfall.
