Hate that companies violate Louis Vuitton's Registered Trademark/Copyright!

momoftwins

momoftwins

Member
Aug 11, 2010
570
3
#1
I am in the process of registering my company's name with the trademark office. I am a small company. Also, being in the photo industry, I take copyright very seriously. Every day I sit and wonder, "How do companies get away with violating LV's trademark and copyright?"

Louis Vuitton is BIG. Yet hundreds of sites violate their registered trademark. There are websites using their name, which is possibly the worst offense, since these sites mostly sell fakes - and can confuse new or uneducated buyers. But also, buy making fakes and using their logo and their name, it is even a larger violation. And sometimes they even use photos from LV's website - copyright violation.

So how can they get away with this? It is a disgrace. I see how it is hard to catch street vendors who relocate all the time, but there are so many full fledged websites that come up when you do a Google Search for Louis Vuitton. It is horrible - It saddens me. If they cannot stop this, what good is getting a trademark registered anyway. I wish LV would sue all these websites.

Thanks for listening to my rant on this.

Jodi
 
#2
I'm pretty sure they do sue, but of course the legal process is slow. It would probably be a full-time job tracking down all the counterfeit sites and more would pop up everyday. But I agree they should be more aggressive, some sites totally steal all the real pics from the LV site for their phony ones!
 
#3
They don't pursue it. I have successfully taken legal action against large companies for violating my trademark. But it takes lots of time and effort. To a large company like LV, getting some small websites taken down isn't worth it. It's not going to substantially increase their sales, if at all.

It is definitely beneficial to copyright your trademark. But just because your trademark is copy written, doesn't mean that no one can steal it. And when they steal it, it's up to you to take action. LV could stop it hypothetically, they just do not want to invest that much time and efforts in doing so. Most counterfeit companies are overseas where the laws are different and I can't imagine the headache of tracking down one of those people in the first place.

I am sure that LV has a large department that works on defending their copyright but I think they devote their time to the bigger counterfeit companies/organizations or even other brands who copy their designs.
 
#4
So I have a question along those lines. You know how there are yearly statistics about counterfeit items that claim that such and such business lost millions of dollars to counterfeits..my question is how can you really evaluate that statement? Let's say we lived in a world where counterfeits didn't exist, would the people that bought fakes have bought the real thing instead? I really doubt that...so did the company really "lose" money that wouldn't have been allocated to them in the first place?
 
#5
That makes sense. It just makes me sad.

I also find it odd that they don't discount (which I do understand) but yet tolerate fakes. I mean, I know they don't like fakes and maybe they are too hard to stop. But it does de-value the product to some degree, I think.

It is the most dishonest industry. I hate thieves and copycats!!!

FreshLilies said:
They don't pursue it. I have successfully taken legal action against large companies for violating my trademark. But it takes lots of time and effort. To a large company like LV, getting some small websites taken down isn't worth it. It's not going to substantially increase their sales, if at all.

It is definitely beneficial to copyright your trademark. But just because your trademark is copy written, doesn't mean that no one can steal it. And when they steal it, it's up to you to take action. LV could stop it hypothetically, they just do not want to invest that much time and efforts in doing so. Most counterfeit companies are overseas where the laws are different and I can't imagine the headache of tracking down one of those people in the first place.

I am sure that LV has a large department that works on defending their copyright but I think they devote their time to the bigger counterfeit companies/organizations or even other brands who copy their designs.
Click to expand...
 
#6
That's what I was trying to get at, however I said it less eloquently...I don't study law but I love reading about it on tpf lol
FreshLilies said:
They don't pursue it. I have successfully taken legal action against large companies for violating my trademark. But it takes lots of time and effort. To a large company like LV, getting some small websites taken down isn't worth it. It's not going to substantially increase their sales, if at all.

It is definitely beneficial to copyright your trademark. But just because your trademark is copy written, doesn't mean that no one can steal it. And when they steal it, it's up to you to take action. LV could stop it hypothetically, they just do not want to invest that much time and efforts in doing so. Most counterfeit companies are overseas where the laws are different and I can't imagine the headache of tracking down one of those people in the first place.

I am sure that LV has a large department that works on defending their copyright but I think they devote their time to the bigger counterfeit companies/organizations or even other brands who copy their designs.
Click to expand...
 
#7
I don't think so. Only because LV's target audience does not overlap with the audience that fakes attract. But who knows?
momoftwins said:
That makes sense. It just makes me sad.

I also find it odd that they don't discount (which I do understand) but yet tolerate fakes. I mean, I know they don't like fakes and maybe they are too hard to stop. But it does de-value the product to some degree, I think.

It is the most dishonest industry. I hate thieves and copycats!!!
Click to expand...
 
#8
I totally agree, momoftwins. It completely sickens me that whenever I do a search for an LV bag or SLG I'm obsessing over, I have to sift through hundreds of replica sites to get to any real pictures/information.

I agree that for the company, it probably isn't worth the huge task of prosecuting each and every outlet that sells counterfeit items bearing their name/logo. Though I'm sure I have read that they have a big department dealing only with counterfeit issues.

I don't really understand how these hundreds of websites get away with it though, even if LV elect not to pursue them all. Surely whichever company is hosting these sites has a responsibility not to provide services to any sites that offer illegal goods for sale? They might as well be hosting websites selling illegal drugs.
 
#9
as long as their items priced way higher than they cost to make there will be people their making copies of them...anything where the mark up is very very high (diamonds, luxury items, expensive gadgets (rip off iphone) ) people will be waiting to copy it. Too many people spread all over the world to go after all of them .
 
#10
Exactly - you would not think a hosting company would even have them. Amazing...

boyoverboard said:
I totally agree, momoftwins. It completely sickens me that whenever I do a search for an LV bag or SLG I'm obsessing over, I have to sift through hundreds of replica sites to get to any real pictures/information.

I agree that for the company, it probably isn't worth the huge task of prosecuting each and every outlet that sells counterfeit items bearing their name/logo. Though I'm sure I have read that they have a big department dealing only with counterfeit issues.

I don't really understand how these hundreds of websites get away with it though, even if LV elect not to pursue them all. Surely whichever company is hosting these sites has a responsibility not to provide services to any sites that offer illegal goods for sale? They might as well be hosting websites selling illegal drugs.
Click to expand...
 
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