Nike and the company it filed a copyright lawsuit against over devil-themed sneakers reached a settlement.
The company, MSCHF, and rapper Lil Nas X collaborated to design and promote the sneakers in March, which are essentially Nike shoes they purchased and redesigned, leading to the lawsuit and a judge’s issuance of a temporary restraining order.
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The rapper, who’s best known for the hit 2019 song “Old Town Road,” was not a defendant in the case.
RAPPER RELEASING ‘SATAN SHOES’ WITH DROP OF HUMAN BLOOD AND PENTAGRAMS
As a result of Thursday’s settlement, MSCHF agreed to initiate a “voluntary recall to buy back” of the shoes for their original retail price, a spokesperson for Nike told the Washington Examiner, adding that this aspect of the agreement is designed to “remove them from circulation.” If customers want to return the shoes, MSCHF will offer a full refund.
“The parties are pleased to put this dispute behind them,” the Nike spokesperson said.
The “Satan Shoes” were limited to 666 pairs and cost $1,018, in reference to the Bible verse Luke 10:18, which describes Satan’s fall from heaven. Lil Nas X’s music video for “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” which featured satanic imagery, was released March 26.
David Bernstein, MSCHF’s legal counsel, told the Washington Examiner his client “was pleased with the settlement.”
“With these Satan Shoes — which sold out in less than a minute — MSCHF intended to comment on the absurdity of the collaboration culture practiced by some brands, and about the perniciousness of intolerance,” he added. “The 666 shoes (665 of which were already sold and shipped to collectors before the temporary restraining order hearing last week) were individually-numbered works of art that will continue to represent the ideals of equality and inclusion wherever they are displayed.”
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“The artistic messages MSCHF hoped to share with these shoes were also powerfully communicated through Lil Nas X’s music video ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name)’, and were dramatically amplified by the Nike lawsuit, which brought extraordinary publicity to MSCHF and its works of art. MSCHF looked forward to presenting its defenses at the preliminary injunction hearing, especially since the Court indicated that it recognized that ‘First Amendment rights of artistic expression are paramount,’” Bernstein continued. “However, having already achieved its artistic purpose, MSCHF recognized that settlement was the best way to allow it to put this lawsuit behind it so that it could dedicate its time to new artistic and expressive projects.”
