Versace, Richemont take on counterfeit sellers in Florida court

Fashion houses Versace and Richemont have fired another legal fusillade against websites set up to sell fake or ‘replica’ copies of their luxury goods in a Florida district court.

Both suits name dozens of URLs the companies claim are selling counterfeits in violation of their trademarks, and are seeking millions of dollars in damages. Richemont’s lawsuit for example, names sites such as bestreplicacartier.com, marinamilitarewatch.com and cartiercopy.com as defendants.

Such cases have yielded big-figure damages in the past, but that is usually symbolic as in many cases the operators of the sites ate overseas – often in China – and can’t be readily identified. More important is generally forcing the fraudulent websites offline to avoid lost sales and damage to brands.

The Richemont case number is 0:20-cv-60637, while Versace’s is 0:20-cv-60618, both heard in the Florida Southern District Court.