NASCAR files mystery suit against unidentified defendants

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (CN) — Racing giant NASCAR filed suit Monday against an undisclosed number of companies over trademark infringement.

In the unsealed docket, the company listed “individuals, corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships and unincorporated associations identified on schedule A to the complaint” as defendants in its civil suit over merch.

The document that identifies the defendants simply reads, “Removed from public docket,” as does the exhibit the complaint cites as including examples of infringing products.

The defendants have infringed on NASCAR’s trademarks and violated the Lanham Act — the federal statute governing trademark law — through knockoff merchandise posted on online stores, NASCAR said in its lawsuit. Photos of the knockoff products were not included in the public complaint.

“Defendants’ systematic and coordinated mass counterfeiting and infringement campaign has caused, and continues to cause, substantial and irreparable harm to plaintiff and its ability to police and enforce its rights against the hundreds, if not thousands, of anonymous online sellers who are selling counterfeit and infringing products,” the racing company said in its suit.

The defendants blur NASCAR’s trademarks on their products to avoid takedown efforts, NASCAR said, and a counterfeiting network uses fake e-commerce storefronts that look like authorized merchandise.

The defendants have also created “numerous” aliases, it claimed, to avoid the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s attempts to combat the sale of counterfeit goods.

NASCAR says it has conducted an investigation that found signs of an illegal counterfeiting and infringement scheme and that many of the sellers have fabricated business names, while others that look legitimate often do not have physical addresses.

The unidentified defendants are an organized group of trademark infringers coordinating to sell fake products, it says, who are going to “great lengths” to hide their identities and maintain offshore bank accounts outside the jurisdiction of U.S. courts.

“This behavior demonstrates a calculated scheme to shield their illicit profits from legal enforcement and recovery,” NASCAR said.

The racing company asked the court to issue an order deactivating the defendants’ accounts, stop their advertising for the infringing products and take steps to ensure the links to the online storefronts don’t appear in search results for NASCAR merchandise and products.

“The seller aliases are deliberately operating deceptive online storefronts specifically designed to mislead consumers by appearing to sell genuine NASCAR products, while knowingly selling unauthorized, inferior counterfeit imitations of plaintiff’s NASCAR products that illegally use the NASCAR trademarks,” the company said.

“Plaintiff has been and continues to be irreparably harmed through loss of control over its reputation, goodwill, ability to license, and the quality of goods featuring the NASCAR trademarks,” NASCAR said. The company did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The civil case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell, a Donald Trump appointee who presided over the NASCAR antitrust case involving Front Row Motorsports and 23XI Racing in November 2025. The teams sued NASCAR in 2024, claiming it violated antitrust law, and the parties settled midtrial, establishing permanent racing charters for teams.

Bell requires an initial settlement conference between parties in the spirit of court efficiency. He strongly encouraged NASCAR and the two suing teams to settle throughout the antitrust litigation last year.

NASCAR has previously filed suit against “Schedule A” defendants in New York, where it secured a preliminary injunction in its favor earlier this month, prohibiting a slew of identified resellers from advertising, manufacturing or selling products that NASCAR claims infringe on its trademarks.

Several teams racing under the NASCAR umbrella have been embroiled in legal disputes over the last year.

Joe Gibbs Racing, Spire Motorsports and Spire’s Chief Motorsports Officer Chris Gabehart are tangled up in a nasty case after Gibbs Racing claimed Gabehart stole racing secrets to give them to Spire. Spire and Gabehart slapped back in June, claiming the teams had previously come to an implied agreement over soliciting each other’s employees, with Gabehart saying Gibbs Racing broke his employment contract.

Legacy Motor Club settled a suit against Rick Ware Racing in 2025 but elected to sue Spire co-founder T.J. Puchyr over the dispute, whom it claims interfered with Legacy’s attempt to purchase a racing charter. Puchyr’s consulting company countersued Legacy, and the case is ongoing.

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