By Zachary Sampson, News Correspondent

Most people can recognize Nike products by the brand’s iconic swoosh and the “Just Do It” slogan. Attorneys working for Nike are especially adept at doing so.

So when NUde Wear, a company founded by four Northeastern students, made shirts with the slogan “Just NU It,” Nike attorneys quickly recognized the parallel.

The Chicago law office of Leydig, Voit & Mayer, LTD., which works on Nike’s behalf, sent NUde Wear a letter saying the shirt’s “font and color scheme … will likely confuse consumers into believing that [the] products come from or are authorized by Nike.” According to the firm, such confusion would “damage Nike’s valuable intellectual property.” The letter went on to ask the founders of NUde Wear to stop producing the shirts.

NUde Wear was founded by four Northeastern students: Charles Svirk, Jared Glassman, Teddy Cordes, and Matthew Valich, all of whom are middlers and entrepreneurship majors save for Valich, a cinema studies major.

The founders said they initially contemplated the issue of copyright infringement but did not believe their products were at all unlawful.
“We thought of it, but we knew we were making a parody and we thought it was legal from the lawyers we were talking to,” Svirk said. A common defense in cases like NUde Wear’s concerns parody; under this interpretation, some parodies of trademarks are acceptable. NUde Wear’s commercial design is not protected by this argument.

“We felt that people wouldn’t get confused with the Nike brand and our brand because even from such a distance you can see it’s NU and tell it’s school-affiliated and has something to do with Northeastern,” Valich said.

Other Northeastern students said they agreed with this logic.

“I believe that most people think it’s just a clever take on Nike’s slogan and it shows a lot of school spirit,” said freshman international affairs major Christina Care.

Nike could not be reached for comment on the issue.

Thus far, the founders of NUde Wear said Nike has only sent them requests to stop producing without mention of any lawsuits. Still, some students said they do not understand the reason for these requests.

“It’s not going to hurt anybody. It’s only promoted to Northeastern kids; Nike has enough,” said sophomore mechanical engineering major Daniel Dewey.

After a response by NUde Wear to the initial contact, another letter was sent by Jamie M. Lemons, an assistant general counsel in the Trademark Department of Nike. Lemons explained that Nike was willing to allow the students to “sell through any existing inventory,” which the founders of NUde Wear said they intend to do.

“We haven’t made many concrete decisions yet as to a strategy move but we still do have existing inventory and it is being sold,” said Cordes.

Some students have expressed cautious desire to obtain the remaining products.

“As long as I don’t get in trouble, I definitely would buy a shirt,” Care said. In response to these concerns, the makers assure that students will not face any consequences for wearing the shirts. They argue is that the shirts explicitly use the term “NU,” while the university’s abbreviation is “NEU,” so there is no official affiliation.

In terms of the company’s future, the success of the original “Just NU It” shirts have encouraged expansion on the part of NUde Wear while also leading them to proceed with caution. A second shirt similar to a line put out by the sportswear brand Puma had been added to their website, GoNUdeWear.com, but was later removed. Despite the hesitation, the founders said they have no intention of shutting down their company. A number of students agree that this is a good plan for NUde Wear’s future.

“I think they should try to make it work because it’s a clever idea,” said freshman biology major Jack Kelly. “They should just do it.”

This article has been modified to reflect the following correction:  The NUdeWear shirts never included Nike’s “swoosh” logo.