Sunday 13 March 2011
Tiffany & Co Sues Counterfeit Websites for Copyright & Trademark Infringement
The big brand are fighting back. This article reproduced by Anthony Demarco of the Jewellery News Network proves they are relentless in their attempts to rid the world of counterfeits
Tiffany & Co. has filed a lawsuit against 44 websites based in China that sell counterfeit Tiffany products.
The civil suit argues that the websites are “are promoting, selling, offering for sale and distributing counterfeit and infringing Tiffany branded products.”
The lawsuit adds that the websites “constitute willful and intentional infringement and counterfeiting of Tiffany's trademarks in total disregard of Tiffany's rights, and have taken place … in spite of defendants' knowledge that their use of Tiffany's trademarks was and is in direct contravention of Tiffany's rights.”
The three defendants listed in the complaint are Ge Wang, King Wang, and Ning Zhou, along with “various unknown associates.” The formal charges are for trademark, counterfeiting and infringement, false designation of origin, and cyberpiracy.
The suit was filed in federal court in Norfolk, Va., the state where the luxury jewellery retailer has its websites registered, according to a story in The Virginian-Pilot. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith on January 18 extended a temporary restraining order that prohibits some 44 websites from selling knockoff Tiffany products. However, the websites quickly change names, and their operators are nearly impossible to locate.
At least some of the websites, such as tiffanymall.org and tiffanystore.org, now redirect visitors to a website that outlines the lawsuit.
Tiffany will seek a preliminary injunction at a hearing on Feb. 1 and, ultimately, a permanent injunction, the newspaper reports.
Original ArticleTiffany sues in Norfolk to shut down counterfeit websites
At the website www. tiffany.com, women's watches sell for a minimum of $2,700, with most priced between $4,000 and $5,000.
However, at www.ustiffany4sale.com, a ladies' watch with the Tiffany emblem that the site says retails for $4,950 is on sale for $169. It's a counterfeit, and Tiffany & Co. has come to Norfolk's federal court seeking to shut down such websites.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Rebecca Beach Smith extended a temporary restraining order that prohibits some 44 websites from selling knockoff Tiffany products. The problem, Tiffany discovered, is that the websites quickly change names, and their operators are nearly impossible to locate.
Smith extended the Jan. 1 order 14 days to give the company's attorneys more time to attempt to serve papers on the defendants.
An investigator in China hired by the company learned that the addresses and phone numbers used by the defendants to register their websites were bogus, court records say. Tiffany & Co., based in New Jersey, filed the suit here because the websites' registrars are based in Virginia.
Three defendants from China have not responded to the suit. Roughly half of the 44 websites, with names such as tiffanymall.org and tiffanystore.org, now redirect visitors to a website that outlines the lawsuit.
Some websites on the list apparently have tried to thwart the court action. The website www. ustiffanysale.com, one of the 44, now redirects visitors to www.ustiffany4sale.com, offering products that it admits are counterfeit.
"When receiving your jewellery gift," the web site states, "all will surely give a loud hooting cry of exultation or excitement."
A disclaimer on the site says it does not sell genuine Tiffany products: "Even though the products sold on our site may look the same as those original Tiffany & Co. jewellery, they are not made by Tiffany & Co."
Tiffany will seek a preliminary injunction at a hearing on Feb. 1 and, ultimately, a permanent injunction.
Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com
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Tuesday 8 March 2011
Will Fakes Morally Corrupt You?
According to recent studies, the answer is yes!
It is not that often I get excited about a discussion (even though, I love research and surveys) but this article reproduced from the London Evening Standard by Phillip Delves Broughton, I found so fascinating had to share and get your opinion on the study.
Academic researchers have concluded that people buy fake products in order to tell themselves and others that they are better than they are. Buying a fake is a shortcut to fooling yourself and others that you are rich and have good taste. Even people who claim to be buying fakes for a laugh are in fact hoping that they will appear more affluent.
But a new set of experiments has found that buying fakes has a darker side. It not only causes people to think they are something they are not, but actually makes them behave unethically. Wearing a pair of shades you know are knock-offs creates a “counterfeit self” who lies more and is more mistrustful of others. What starts with fake sunglasses and bags may end up with you lying about your past and present and assuming everyone else does the same.
Three American researchers, Francesca Gino, Michael Norton and Dan Ariely, ran a series of tests on a group of 85 female university students to examine the behavioural effects of wearing fake products.
However, there was no obvious identifier on each work sheet, so a dishonest person could claim a higher score and take more money, assuming that their true score would never be found out. But the researchers were actually monitoring each student, so they could tell who cheated and who didn't. It turned out that 71 per cent of those who thought they were wearing knock-off sunglasses inflated their performance, compared to just 30 per cent of those who thought they were wearing the real thing.
Those who thought they were wearing counterfeit sunglasses considered people they knew to be more dishonest, were more distrustful of common excuses and thought the characters in the scenario much more likely to behave dishonestly.
Don't you just love it? What's your take? Have your say?
It is not that often I get excited about a discussion (even though, I love research and surveys) but this article reproduced from the London Evening Standard by Phillip Delves Broughton, I found so fascinating had to share and get your opinion on the study.
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| Counterfeit goods seizure 1 |
Why should it matter whether you buy real designer sunglasses or fake ones? The designer may be upset because he or she is being ripped off. But then you console yourself. They're only sunglasses. It's all fun. Who cares? It's not as though Stella McCartney's heading to the poor house any time soon.
It's the same with bags. Do you shell out hundreds of pounds for the real thing or spend a fraction of that on a decent-looking fake, which may fall to pieces in the rain but does the job? But what is the job? Is it to do what sunglasses and bags are supposed to do, shield your eyes and hold your things? Or are fake designer items actually meant to signal to others that you are better than in fact you are?
Academic researchers have concluded that people buy fake products in order to tell themselves and others that they are better than they are. Buying a fake is a shortcut to fooling yourself and others that you are rich and have good taste. Even people who claim to be buying fakes for a laugh are in fact hoping that they will appear more affluent.
 |
| Counterfeit electronics seizure 2 |
Three American researchers, Francesca Gino, Michael Norton and Dan Ariely, ran a series of tests on a group of 85 female university students to examine the behavioural effects of wearing fake products.
In the first tests, they were all given a pair of real Chloe sunglasses but half of them were told their glasses were knock-offs. They were then all given a series of tasks to test their honesty. In one test, they were given a set of mathematical problems to complete in five minutes and asked to record their own score on a separate piece of paper. They would receive 50 cents for each correct answer.
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| Counterfeit goods seizure 3 |
Those who thought they were wearing counterfeit sunglasses considered people they knew to be more dishonest, were more distrustful of common excuses and thought the characters in the scenario much more likely to behave dishonestly.
A final experiment tested the subjects' feelings of authenticity, measured by feelings of alienation from themselves. They were asked to what extent, on a scale of one to seven, they agreed with the statements: “Right now, I don't know how I really feel inside”; “Right now, I feel as though I don't know myself very well”; “Right now, I feel out of touch with the real me'; and “Right now, I feel alienated from myself.”
Higher scores indicated higher levels of self-alienation. The students who thought they were wearing fakes were on average one point on the scale more self-alienated than those who thought they had the real thing.
The researchers' depressing conclusion was that wearing fakes is not just bad for the wearer, but also for broader society as it leads to higher levels of mistrust. Whatever you think you are saving by buying a knock-off at a fraction of the cost of the real item, you pay for with your morality. It's great news for the fashion companies, which are constantly battling the knock-offs, and bad news for anyone who thought those fakes were fooling anyone. This is the most comprehensive research I have seen, would you agree or disagree with results?
Original article |
| Counterfeit seizure 4 |
The researchers' depressing conclusion was that wearing fakes is not just bad for the wearer, but also for broader society as it leads to higher levels of mistrust. Whatever you think you are saving by buying a knock-off at a fraction of the cost of the real item, you pay for with your morality. It's great news for the fashion companies, which are constantly battling the knock-offs, and bad news for anyone who thought those fakes were fooling anyone. This is the most comprehensive research I have seen, would you agree or disagree with results?
Don't you just love it? What's your take? Have your say?
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