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A Canadian outerwear brand was awarded millions of dollars after a judge found nearly 30 operations selling counterfeit products of the same name.
A federal court in Chicago has awarded Moose Knuckles $68.5 in damages against 26 China-based defendants who were each found to be operating "rogue" Moose Knuckles websites and selling counterfeits of Moose Knuckles apparel and accessories.
Judge Robert M. Dow Jr. issued the award during his final judgment, after finding that each defendant had engaged in willful trademark counterfeiting and copyright infringement.
The court also ordered that 33 domain names used by the defendants to sell counterfeit Moose Knuckles products be permanently locked and transferred to the original company.
"This judgment has played a pivotal role in our company's anti-counterfeiting strategy and will allow Moose Knuckles to take more effective and efficient action against online counterfeiters moving forward," said CEO Noah Stern.
Moose Knuckles jackets are sold in a variety of high-end stores across Canada and typically retail for $595-$1,000.
Each of the "rogue" web sites had been designed to look like an official Moose Knuckles site or an authorized retailer of Moose Knuckles products. The counterfeiters copied marketing images, pictures of Moose Knuckles products and detailed product descriptions directly from Moose Knuckles' own website.
"Online counterfeiting through rogue websites is of particular concern to our customers because the sites look authentic and may offer products at only a slight discount from our suggested retail price," said company president Ayal Twik. "These sites seem so much more credible than a vendor at a flea market.
“Usually, it's not until the jacket arrives in the mail that our customers see the poor quality of the product and realize they have been cheated."
The counterfeiters were operating under multiple false and incomplete identities.
"Unfortunately, the internet provides counterfeiters with the advantage of anonymity along with the ability to set up multiple web stores cheaply and quickly where they operate from foreign locations beyond the reach of U.S. or Canadian authorities," said Brad Evans, a director for Anti-Counterfeiting Strategy Group. "Court awards like this allow companies who play by the rules to disable the 'rogue' websites and freeze counterfeiters' assets - we are taking some of that advantage back."
This isn’t the first time Moose Knuckles has been in court. Just last year, they settled with the Competition Bureau over claims of ‘deceptive marketing' on their part.
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