Amazon is stepping up its efforts on its platform to tackle counterfeiting by targeting the higher end of the fashion market. Amazon said any proceeds resulting from the suit are going straight to Valentino himself. We’ve been asking how much damage the companies are seeking and will update this post with more information as we get it. We embed the suit underneath the article.
Notably, this is the first time Amazon has teamed up with a luxury brand to go in court after counterfeiters, although in the past it has partnered with other brands. As in those previous cases, partnering with the labels is essential for Amazon to prove that it is a friend of fair trade by partnering aggressively to avoid illicit trading.
Also, however, Amazon has made enormous efforts to raise its game in fashion, and so it must fight against the image that it is a fertile ground for the sale and purchase of illegal knock-off items from famous brands.
Getting off on the right foot-so to speak-is part of that with Valentino. The Garavani Rockstud (‘Garavani’ comes from the full name of Valentino, Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani) is one of the most popular models of Valentino, with its silver lines of studs showing on a variety of Valentino boots including sandals, heels, and flats. We were first launched in 2010 and the design is copyrighted by Valentino.
At the moment Kaitlyn Pan sells several models riffing on that basic concept. Typically, authentic Valentino Rockstud shoes retail for between $425 and $1,100, while the Pan versions are selling around $100 for significantly less. You can see the location of the problem.
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Since the shoes are not sold as Valentino and do not use the Rockstud logo, they may be easily misunderstood. In the case of Kaitlyn Pan, for example, the platform is operated by nothing but Shopify. The Pan models are still sold directly at Kaitlyn Pan Shoes as of today.
Yet quite proudly, after being pushed out of the markets of Amazon and being slapped with Valentino’s cease demands, Kaitlyn Pan has submitted to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to mark the theme.
As most luxurious luxury brands, Valentino is routinely replicated and fake and this has been the case for decades. But, arguably, the rise in e-commerce, where tracing sellers and products can be harder to trace, has compounded that issue.
Conclusion:
The firm has therefore made a more concerted effort to fight back. It has been partnering with U.S. Customs and Border Protection over the last three years to recover more than 2,000 counterfeit goods and collaborate on a monitoring program to track counterfeit items on the U.S. market.
