Moncler wins in China and gets 4.7 million rmb compensation

An important legal victory was obtained by luxury brand Moncler in a trademark case in China. 

The Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court awarded the company a compensation of 4.7 million RMB (about 640,000 US$) for violation of trademark laws by 3 companies: Quanzhou Yuan Lai Yu Li Internet Tec, owner of the trademark, Meng Kou Yu Huang, manufacturer, and Shishi City Yi Cong E-Commerce, operator of an online shop.

What happened?

In 2018, Moncler discovered that the three companies cited above were marketing counterfeit Moncler products, in China, through online channels, using the trademark 'Mengking', which featured elements similar to those of the Moncler logo, such as the 'M' on zips and the use of the distinctive blue and red colors associated with the brand. 

The company first invalidated the trademarks of the infringing companies through a lawsuit filed with the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA). 

Subsequently, Moncler sued the companies for copyright infringement by taking the case to a civil court and obtaining damages of RMB 3.5 million from the brand owner and manufacturer and a sum of RMB 1.2 million from the online shop operator.

Recently, the Zhejiang High Court upheld the decision on appeal.

The action was coordinated by Moncler's brand protection team. The company was assisted in the proceedings by HFG Law Firm.

This is just the latest goal achieved by Moncler in the company's broad strategy to combat counterfeiting. 

In the past year, the company has announced that, thanks to its control of online channels, it has intercepted almost 81,000 online auctions of counterfeit products, closed almost 300 sites where counterfeit garments were offered for sale, delisted from search engines about 23,000 pages that referred to non-authentic products, and removed about 87,000 sponsored posts, accounts, and ads from the main social networks. 

Moncler also managed approximately 3,000 seizures, which led to the removal from the market of approximately 145,000 finished products and over 130,000 counterfeit accessories and branded items.