Nike paid him to make gold-dipped sneakers for LeBron. Now, it is suing him.

Less than two weeks after the party, Nike sued Ciambrone for trademark infringement.

Ciambrone, a cobbler who calls himself the Shoe Surgeon, has for years used classic Nike sneakers, like the Air Jordan 1, as his canvas and worked on collaborations with the company. Nike alleged in the lawsuit that Ciambrone had gone over the years from making one-of-a-kind custom designs to leading a widespread infringement operation. The company demanded $60 million in damages.

Nike’s lawyers vigilantly defended its trademarks for years against industry rivals. It picked fights in 2023 with competitors like Skechers and New Balance over footwear design patents, and in 2022 it accused online resale marketplace StockX of selling counterfeit sneakers.

Lately, the company’s lawyers have turned their sights on sneaker customizers and designers who revamp its famous sneakers. The legal crackdown comes at a time when Nike’s business is in a funk. Sales growth has stalled, upstarts like On and Hoka are on the rise and Nike has been cutting thousands of jobs.

“We are confused Nike has chosen litigation over a discussion, but we are confident with proper dialogue and collaboration we can resolve this with the new management team and turn it into a win for the culture," Ciambrone said in a statement posted to his Instagram account on July 22. His lawyers haven’t yet filed a response to the lawsuit.

Gold-dipped LeBrons

In its complaint, Nike said it had sent numerous cease-and-desist letters to Ciambrone and his partners. The company accused Ciambrone of complying with Nike’s demands temporarily, removing certain products from his website, before later selling more of what the company deemed infringing products.

“We are left with no choice but to seek a legal solution to address how the Shoe Surgeon is constructing counterfeit ‘Nike’ footwear from scratch and selling it as officially branded product," Nike said in a statement. The company said it valued its relationship with the Shoe Surgeon and didn’t have an issue with limited, one-of-a-kind customization.

The relationship between the sneaker giant and Ciambrone dates back to at least 2018, when he was hired to commemorate LeBron James reaching his 30,000th NBA point. The Shoe Surgeon created a pair of sneakers adorned with 24-karat gold and diamonds. Ciambrone went on to do a workshop for Nike’s Jordan brand, and last year the company asked him to make a second celebratory pair for the Lakers star.

In addition to the all-white design that Ciambrone did for Scott, a popular rapper and one of Nike’s most successful partners, the Shoe Surgeon is currently working on customized sneakers for one of Nike’s NBA stars and a tennis player, according to a person familiar with the matter.

In late 2022, Nike laid out a business proposal for Ciambrone in which he would design and make shoes for the sneaker giant, the person said.

The proposal said any customization work with Nike products had to be preapproved by Nike and restricted the Shoe Surgeon from engaging with a list of Nike’s competitors for at least two years. Nike would be able to commercialize Ciambrone’s product designs, and the partners would collaborate on special projects for Nike athletes.

In its lawsuit, Nike said the parties had talks about the relationship for future projects that ultimately broke down in the summer of 2023.

New strategy

Nike has also been going after independent designers alleging trademark infringement—including when their products don’t involve Nike’s iconic swoosh or its logos.

The sneaker giant claims these businesses are infringing on its trade dress, a form of intellectual property protection that refers to the overall look and feel of a product. The cases rely on the likelihood that a consumer might confuse a Nike sneaker with those made by other designers.

Nike began filing the claims in 2021, when the company first obtained trade dress registration for some of its most popular designs. Nike has obtained trade dress protections for dozens more since then. In court, Nike has used social-media posts to suggest that consumers have mistakenly believed that sneakers made by unrelated designers are somehow related to Nike.

Nike is stifling creativity by testing the boundaries of these trade dress registrations, said Zakari Kurtz, a lawyer for Sneaker & Streetwear Legal Services, a firm that represented designer Kool Kiy when he was sued by Nike last year.

“They have the power and the money to do whatever they want and can push these smaller brands," Kurtz said. Nike declined to comment on the Kool Kiy case.

Kool Kiy sold shoes that looked like Nike’s Air Jordan 1 and Dunk sneakers, with a lightning bolt replacing the swoosh. The designer agreed to pay $1 million to Nike in a settlement.

Bape, a fashion brand founded in Japan, was hit with the same claims by Nike last year. The brand had been making shoes resembling Nike designs since at least 2005, but the sneaker giant saw it become a problem in 2021, when Bape started increasing the volume of shoes it sold and opening stores in the U.S., according to the lawsuit.

Lawyers for Bape, also known as A Bathing Ape, said the shape of Nike’s shoes was too simple to warrant protection and that consumers can distinguish between the two. Bape’s versions have a star instead of a swoosh.

In April, the two companies settled outside of court. Nike said Bape had agreed to discontinue some of its shoes and redesign others. Several of the sneakers that Nike cited in its complaint are still available on Bape’s website for about $300 a pair.

Write to Inti Pacheco at inti.pacheco@wsj.com