Big brands win big battles this week in the ongoing war against counterfeit goods as Coach Inc. and Tory Burch LLC steamroll websites selling fake products. The iconic fashion designers separately went head to head with hundreds of domain owners allegedly infringing their trademarks and facilitating the sale of counterfeit goods.
In addition to the Court granting a permanent injunction, Coach received an order transferring ownership of 573 domain names to its company and was awarded over $257 million in statutory damages. Around the same time, an Illinois federal judge entered a default judgment for Tory Burch mandating the transfer of the allegedly infringing domains along with assets of up to $2 million to the fashion designer. Similar to the alleged offenders in the Coach suit, many of the targeted websites are based in China.
With names like ToryBurchFlats2012.com and cheapcoachbagstore.com, it’s clear, as recognized by Judge Lee from Illinois, that the defendants are intentionally trying to attract customers to buy fake products. Both designers are hoping these judgments send a message that the courts are willing to enforce harsh penalties on counterfeit traffickers.
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