Tory Burch has won a landmark settlement against hundreds of website selling counterfeit version of her famous handbags and ballet flats. The New Yorker was awarded $164 million in damages, the largest sum in a case against counterfeit e-tailers.
Recent studies have disagreed, but Burch claims counterfeiting costs American fashion houses more than $20 billion dollars each year. She says the judgment isn’t only a victory for her brand, but also her customers and the fashion industry as a whole.
Many discerning fashion fans can spot the fakes, but these websites were pretty cunning. Their masterminds, which were believed to be based in China, created websites designed to fool customers into believing they were shopping at authorized Tory Burch retailers. They even took photos from the official Tory Burch website to flog their replica products.
Along with the financial compensation, the court also ordered that the 232 domain names in question be taken offline and given to Burch. The financial accounts of all the counterfeit websites have also been restrained, and Burch has new powers which allow her to shut down any future copycat sites without another court visit.
This landmark case really paves the way for other fashion houses to crack down on their copycats. I expect to hear many more lawsuits just like this in the near future.
[Source: The Examiner]
[Image Source: David Shankbone/Wikipedia Commons]
