Salvatore Ferragamo ups ante against counterfeiters

15 Feb '14

2 min read

Counterfeiting has beleaguered top luxury brands for many years and the Salvatore Ferragamo Group has been taking up arms against it the world over, increasingly meeting with success, thanks in part to local and international legislators who are gradually coming to grasp the gravity of this problem and are adopting modern tools to protect the rights of piracy and counterfeiting victims.

In particular, the Internet, which has now become a leading channel for traffickers of counterfeit goods, is the central focus of recent lawsuits filed by Salvatore Ferragamo, historically one of the brands most affected by this type of crime. In recent months, the company has discovered and blocked no fewer than 345 websites used to attract potential buyers of counterfeit goods, and has recovered 91 domains using the “Ferragamo” name.

Anyone who arrives at one of these fake domains is now automatically taken to a legitimate web page owned by the company, which informs visitors of the hoax and redirects them to authorized sales channels. Furthermore, in many cases, the company has also had the pirates' Paypal accounts blocked as well.

In addition, the Salvatore Ferragamo Group monitors 33 e-commerce platforms around the world and has had 79% of auctions selling counterfeit goods removed, with the seizure and removal from the market of counterfeit merchandise worth over 3 million US dollars, the equivalent of original products with a value of more than 15 million US dollars.

To support these victories "on the ground", Salvatore Ferragamo is also involved in important lawsuits against domain owners and pirates. Indeed, the New York Southern District Court, where the Florentine brand had filed a civil lawsuit against 15 defendants holding a total of 95 domain names that infringed upon the prestigious trademark and sold counterfeit goods, recently issued a decision awarding damages of over 4 million dollars to the Salvatore Ferragamo Group.

“We have also recently begun taking action in China, where we have already won a civil case against a high-end hotel whose store sold counterfeit products. Furthermore, we were able to have more than 15 thousand counterfeit products seized and destroyed, and we have won 10 criminal cases," noted Ferruccio Ferragamo, Chairman of the Salvatore Ferragamo Group.

"We will continue to wage war against counterfeiting in 2014, with the same deep commitment and determination, intensifying controls and strengthening measures, even at customs authorities".

Salvatore Ferragamo

More Fashion News - Italy...