David Yurman obtains a Victory Against Jewelry Counterfeiters

 

David Yurman Obtains Default Judgment, Permanent Injunction, and Monetary Award Against Counterfeiters

 

On January 2, 2019, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a default judgment in favor of American luxury jeweler David Yurman, awarding the company $1,550,000 in aggregate statutory damages against 31 defendants who operated infringing websites selling counterfeit David Yurman jewelry.

The Court also issued a permanent injunction against the defendants, and any person acting with them, from manufacturing, distributing, advertising or selling any counterfeit David Yurman products. The judgment further requires the defendants to permanently transfer the domain names of the infringing websites to David Yurman.

The defendants operated a network of websites designed to appear like authorized David Yurman websites by unlawfully using the company’s trademarks and copyrighted campaign images in a deliberate attempt to deceive consumers. Having designed the infringing websites to falsely convey an affiliation with David Yurman, the defendants offered for sale counterfeit David Yurman jewelry.

 

“We are pleased with the judgment and will continue to take aggressive action to protect our consumers, our designs and our trademarks,” said Carol Pennelli, President, David Yurman. “We will not tolerate infringers and counterfeiters in the marketplace regardless of where they operate.”

“While the counterfeiters operate in the shadows mimicking designer brands, explains retaildive.com, consumers may unknowingly turn over credit card information to make purchases that never result in receiving a final product.”

“The issue of counterfeits is an area of concern for different branches of the United States government. In 2017, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seized a record number of shipments of illegal goods, with a combined retail price tag of $1.2 billion,” added retaildive.