FAIL - Selling Counterfeit Merchandise

[kwerner]

I was doing some SEO research this morning and happened to run across this site:

[URL="http://gbcinternetenforcement.net/12-7678"]gbcinternetenforcement.net/12-7678[/URL]

Basically an e-commerce store was selling fake merchandise (ugg boots). They must have been making a lot of sales because it caught the eye of the real manufacturer, which filed lawsuit, seized the 100+ domain names they were using, and are suing the defendants for millions.

Be sure to check out the Complaint:

[URL="http://gbcinternetenforcement.net/files/caseNo-12-cv-7678/Complaint.PDF"]gbcinternetenforcement.net/files/caseNo-12-cv-7678/Complaint.PDF[/URL]

As well as the Temporary Restraining Order, where it lists the 100+ domain names that were seized:

[URL="http://gbcinternetenforcement.net/files/caseNo-12-cv-7678/Temporary%20Restraining%20Order.PDF"]gbcinternetenforcement.net/files/caseNo-12-cv-7678/Temporary%20Restraining%20Order.PDF[/URL]

Moral of the story: Don't sell counterfeit merchandise.

 

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[splok]

Moral of the story: Don't sell counterfeit merchandise.

Are you sure about that? Checking the domain list, there's not much to be sad about. It won't be that hard to replace 100 uggbootsstore-outlet.info's, and the site deploying and ranking are probably automated churn and burn style anyway. Assuming they're operating out of somewhere like China, the lawsuit is meaningless too. Not to comment on the morality of such things, but I'll guess this is a minor inconvenience to them at worst.

 

[wannabe]

Selling counterfeit goods is such a waste of time. Even if you are successful, you're not building a brand or company thats actually worth anything. You're simply peddling products for a quick buck.

A lot of these people are Chinese that don't mind the churn and burn as they may not have the same opportunities to build a business that others do in other countries. Either way, I highly suggest staying away from this crap.

 

[Jamillah]

Moral of the story: Don't sell counterfeit merchandise.

YES! it's annoying how much counterfeit product is out there. These "companies" are skipping past the PROCESS, years of building a brand and recognition to the EVENT, an established brand and loyal customers. They are too lazy to do it on their own. Actually they probably don't even care.

 

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[miked_d]

Selling counterfeit goods is such a waste of time.

If your only goal is money its not a waste of time. The money is quite good.

 

[Vigilante]

I was wearing a counterfeit Rolex once that I picked up in Hong Kong. I slammed my fist on the table to make a point during a heated business meeting, and the face popped off the watch and springs and hands and parts flew everywhere. That was the end of my $20 Rolex.

 

[LamboMP]

I was wearing a counterfeit Rolex once that I picked up in Hong Kong. I slammed my fist on the table to make a point during a heated business meeting, and the face popped off the watch and springs and hands and parts flew everywhere. That was the end of my $20 Rolex.

I was about to make a post about counterfeit quality being terrible. You beat me to the punch!

 

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[kwerner]

If your only goal is money its not a waste of time. The money is quite good.

The same could be said about selling other high-demand illegal items; take heroine for example, sure the money is good until you get busted. Then it's all for naught.

 

[PatrickP]

Anyone else read how people are counterfeiting band name food such as ketchup etc?

Think about how easy it is to set up a factory and do this. They were merely buying ketchup in bulk bags, having labels printed and then squeezing the bags into the containers and labeling them.

Millions and millions and millions of dollars AND much of it ends up on well known grocery stores. How? They sell to distributors who sell to the stores. The stores have no idea how they are getting the product for 20% less than any other distributor sells it for. wink wink nudge nudge yea right.

 

[Jamillah]

Anyone else read how people are counterfeiting band name food such as ketchup etc?

I just read about that the other day! Look at the consequences: Exploding bottles of rotten ketchup.

 

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[jilla82]

The same could be said about selling other high-demand illegal items; take heroine for example, sure the money is good until you get busted. Then it's all for naught.

total different game.

 

[OzGrinder]

Basically an e-commerce store was selling fake merchandise (ugg boots).

This is an interesting one. here in Australia and NZ, where ugg boots were invented (it's disputed as to which country actually invented them Oz or NZ). The term 'UGG' is seen as a generic term and is a cultural icon, it existed long before it was a registered trademark in the US. This pissed off alot of Australian manafacturers btw, and it actually went to US courts. Naturally the Aussie companies lost, they actually created a doco about it.

So legally I can sell my own brand of UGG boots within Australia and NZ using the term ugg, but if I setup a web store it becomes more complicated. If a US resident logs on to my Australian hosted web site that uses the term ugg to sell boots have I broken US Trademark law?

Maybe the real moral of the story is if your a non US company don't go up against a US company in US courts, because your going to lose, no matter how legitimate your case is. Furthermore if your a US company it seems that it's totally acceptable and legal to steal the cultural icon of another country for profit

I'm only half kidding.

 

[kwerner]

total different game.

May be a different "game" as you say, but the end result can be the same, get caught and your bankrupt.

 

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[miked_d]

The same could be said about selling other high-demand illegal items; take heroine for example, sure the money is good until you get busted. Then it's all for naught.

Read this again: If your only goal is money its not a waste of time. The money is quite good.

I did not say I am for or against selling counterfeit stuff. Fact is that the money is good and repercussions are minimal, especially for a person living outside the country they are selling in.

People will counterfeit ANYTHING. Ketchup (that's a new one for me), car airbags (saw some scary videos recently), cigarettes, alcohol, designer clothing/accessories. Why go to through the trouble? The money!

 

[miked_d]

May be a different "game" as you say, but the end result can be the same, get caught and your bankrupt.

The most important word in that sentence is "can"

 

[kwerner]

Read this again: If your only goal is money its not a waste of time. The money is quite good.

Sure, until you get a lawsuit filed against you and you lose all the money you earned and then some.

From your tone, I sense that you have never had a trademark infringement lawsuit filed against you for $100,000 per domain name. I have. And I can tell you from personal experience, not just theory or ideology, that it is not worth it.

 

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[miked_d]

From your tone, I sense that you have never had a trademark infringement lawsuit filed against you for $100,000 per domain name. I have. And I can tell you from personal experience, not just theory or ideology, that it is not worth it.

You sense correct. The lawsuit was not filed in my situation. Only made it to the cease and desist stage. Why? The money wasn't worth the problems.

I stand by my original statement. If the only goal is money, who cares about a pesky civil lawsuit? Leave the country and don't come back. The money wouldn't be in a bank anyway because the lawsuit was expected.

Realistic? Probably not. Most people (myself included) have other goals too.

**edit

i will stop trolling. sorry about that. i enjoy discussing/arguing and that comes off much different online than in person. the main point i would like to make is that if you have no attachments in the US, selling f@ke crap is fast money.

 

[VIP]

I have to agree the money is easy and fast but wasn't worth it after attorney fee's. It was a nightmare to deal with HBO about selling Soprano dvds on ebay and now my personal account is banned and paypal and if I want to buy or sell anything I have to use my brothers account.

 

[Mike39]

So to be clear I have zero intention of doing this but it was just something I thought about at the gym tonight.

Could you:
Find a expensive luxury product (jeans, sunglasses, purses, etc.)
Track down the manufacturer (would have to be in china or someplace similar)
Offer to buy brand jeans directly from them at a price higher than wholesale, but far lower than retail
Make a website selling discount "brand name" items at 5-10% discounted retail prices?
Collect Money?

I am pretty sure this is just as illegal but would be much more difficult to track down and prosecute than say someone selling counterfeit goods?

Thoughts?

 

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[Tetras]

^ I'm sure you could.

If the company was smart though, they'd have bought out the clothing manufacturer or have a non disclosure agreement (paying them not do do exactly what you said, which would make sense to me).

But a lot of companies make lots of goods and sell them to anyone. If you are buying stuff that is being sold to Kohls, JC Penny or whatnot some companies will advertise that they have worked with them, but those aren't exactly the top brands.

If they're a wholesaler, they have no reason to say no to even selling at wholesale. Lots of stuff is made at the same place and the only difference is branding.