Photo: Via Gucci.
Gucci was awarded $144.2 million in damages by a federal district court in Florida on Wednesday against a group of organizations behind an online counterfeiting operation. That's A LOT of faux goods.
The court ordered that 155 domain names associated with the scheme should be closed immediately. According to WWD, these targeted domain names “employed such tactics as copying campaign advertisements, product images and descriptions from official websites, as well as using ‘Gucci’ in the domain name,” all designed to “deceive online consumers.”
The counterfeited booty included handbags, scarves, luggage and footwear that used the Gucci logo, monogram and signature red and green stripe.
Gucci is certainly not the first to suffer from online imitation knock-offs—Hermès, Burberry, Coach and Christian Louboutin have all take online counterfeiters to court over the past 18 months, and all have won. But given the internet's vastness and the anonymity that it provides, it's hard to see what these fashion houses can be done to prevent counterfeit sites setting up shop in the first place.
(WWD)