Michael Kors Continues Fight Against Cybersquatters

Michael Kors LLC is the latest designer to unleash the judicial system against online counterfeiters. On Thursday, the designer won a 2.4 million dollar judgment against 35 infringing Web sites, including MichaelKors-Outlet.net, CheapMichaelKorsOutlet.com and MichaelKorsSale.com, all of which sold counterfeit handbags, shoes, wallets, belts, eyewear, watches and jewelry bearing the brand’s trademarks. The price points of these counterfeit goods were between $350 and $800, similar to those listed for actual Michael Kors products, which along with the name of the sites caused consumer confusion.

Following the victories of Hermes and Burberry, the Kors case indicates that the judicial system is not going to let these sites freely circumvent the laws. And while the defedants hardly ever abide by the system and pay damages, the judgments do put a stop to the cybersquatters operations and serve as a message. The rulings not only attack the sites themselves, but they also implicate search engines like Google and Yahoo, and social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, making them responsible for getting rid of any counterfeit site found on their platforms and for delisting any infringing domain names from their Web searches. However, this fight is going to be a long one, for as soon as the court shuts down one site, others crop up and flourish. Nevertheless, it is a signficant step forward for fashion law that the courts are willing to continue the attack on these illegal online portals of counterfeit goods.