Salvatore Ferragamo Continues Its Counterfeit Crusade

An injunction was delivered against 60 unidentified holders of illegal online profiles that were operating under the Florence-based luxury brand’s name. The court highlighted some 150 domain names that were infringing upon the brand’s rights, however the offenders are hard to locate. The $60 million sum, therefore, is exemplary and unlikely to be collected, as in most counterfeit cases of this type.

“We are extremely pleased with the decision of the New York court, which also comprises exemplary damages, the highest ever awarded for this type of violation,” Ferruccio Ferragamo, chairman and chief executive officer, told WWD. “The internet is the prime channel for traffickers of counterfeit goods and it is therefore the focus of our monitoring and control efforts. In recent years our group has implemented a series of anti-counterfeiting measures, both on and offline, to protect our customers and the value of our brand.”

The battle against counterfeit goods is one the family-run brand takes seriously. In 2014, it began inserting microchips and radio frequency identification tags into its women’s pre-fall 2014 shoes to guarantee product authenticity and facilitate the tracking of products. It extended the microchips to men’s shoes in its cruise 2015 collection, and inserted them into women’s small leather goods, luggage and bags for autumn/winter 2015.

Salvatore Ferragamo has been awarded $60 million by the New York Southern District Court in compensation for the sale of counterfeit Ferragamo products.

These strict measures helped Ferragamo to intercept and seize more than 268,000 counterfeit products around the world last year, with 62,000 counterfeit products in China, an area that needs strict preventative efforts.

“We are very satisfied with the results of the steps we have taken to protect our registered brands and our trademark rights on the internet,” Ferragamo continued. “Rest assured that we will continue to fight counterfeiting with unfailing determination.”