John Geiger Hires Kanye West's Former YEEZY Lawyer to Lead His Defense Team in Nike Lawsuit
Kenneth Anand is the Counsel to Jayaram Law, was the former General Counsel of YEEZY Apparel, and is the co-creator of ‘Sneaker Law.’
After making a public statement on Instagram in response to Nike suing him over the Geiger GF-01’s copyright infringement of the Air Force 1, John Geiger has hired sneaker industry expert and lawyer Kenneth Anand to lead his team in their lawsuit with Nike. Anand currently serves as the Counsel to Jayaram Law and was Kanye West‘s former General Counsel of YEEZY Apparel and a co-creator of Sneaker Law, a business and legal textbook about the footwear industry. Geiger’s new council supplied HYPEBEAST with exclusive statements about their intentions for the tackling these claims.
“John Geiger has produced a premium sneaker that is materially different from the Air Force 1 in its design, quality, price, and positioning”, says Anand about the case. “There can be no likelihood of confusion between the two. It is well known that the Air Force 1 has been a source of inspiration for many footwear brands. Nike cannot selectively enforce its trade dress against certain creators just because they think they will roll over and settle. At some point, this has to stop.”
Elsewhere on his team is Vivek Jayaram — the founder founder of Jayaram Law — whom also elected to make a statement. “I founded this firm in 2009 to protect and advance the rights of creatives,” states Jayaram. “John Geiger is an innovative designer who has developed a valuable portfolio of his own intellectual property that is adored by consumers around the world. Nike’s allegations of trade dress infringement are overreaching and reflect a basic misunderstanding of a consumer’s view of John’s coveted GF-01’s. We will vigorously defend these baseless claims.”
Sean Davis, CEO and founding partner of John Geiger LLC. also commented on his intentions of moving forward in this dispute. “A lot of people in our position would seek the most inexpensive and easiest path for conflict resolution,” Davis says. “But in this scenario, John and I welcome the opportunity to defend our brand, and we look forward to seeing this lengthy process through.”
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