Greer, Burns & Crain LTD, representing Deckers Outdoor Corporation, recently obtained judgments by a federal court in Illinois against a combined 3,007 Chinese based websites selling counterfeit UGG® products. The court entered a permanent injunction against the defendants and awarded Deckers $686 million dollars in damages. In addition, the judgment restrained funds in hundreds of financial accounts linked to the websites. These funds were also awarded to Deckers. Prior to the default judgment, the Court entered a temporary restraining order in each case giving control of the domains to Deckers. Each domain was then redirected to a website putting consumers on notice that the domain was previously used for counterfeit sales.
These lawsuits are part of a proactive effort by Deckers and GBC to thwart online UGG® counterfeiting, particularly against rogue Chinese based websites. Since 2011 GBC has filed six lawsuits against websites selling counterfeit UGG products resulting in the transfer of over 6,000 domains and the freezing of substantial funds in linked financial accounts. In addition to lawsuits, GBC on behalf of Deckers aggressively sends take down letters to website servers hosting counterfeit sites, has links to sites removed from search engines, and shuts down payment processing services. In the past year enforcement action was taken against over 23,000 sites and 19,000 links were removed from search engines.
The cases are 11-cv-7970 and 12-cv-377 in the Northern District of Illinois.
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