Ferragamo vs. forgers
MANILA, Philippines - Like a long-lasting, suffocating siege, counterfeiting has been surrounding the most prestigious brands for many years. In recent times, though, the battle fought before courts all over the world by enraged brand proprietors against forgers is starting to produce a number of successes, most of which are the result of newly updated local legislations and global consciousness-raising on the economic (and even social) perils of the phenomenon.
Ready to take advantage of such legislative innovations, Salvatore Ferragamo, among the most illustrious and most damaged brands involved in the fight, has lately obtained significantly positive results against the e-commerce of counterfeit goods (predictably, forgers have adopted the Internet in the last decade as one of their main, and most profitable, distribution channels.)
Dozens of sites with such names as “ferragamoaustralia.com,†“ferragamogoodshoes.com,†“ferragamosalelondon.com,†“ferragamousa.com†or “china-ferragamo.com†were blocked in the past six months and have now automatically been redirected to the proper, legal e-commerce means of the brand. Numerous PayPal accounts were shut down when ties were proven between them and the pirate sites, but the eBay-owned giant of online payments is not the only unaware (and innocent) partner of these crooks, social networks being another favorite platform — notably Facebook and Twitter, where a number of profiles were discovered passing themselves off as “official†Salvatore Ferragamos (they, of course, were forced to shut down, too.)
To support such successes in the field, Salvatore Ferragamo is presently engaging in a powerful legal campaign in the US, where a number of civil lawsuits are being discussed across the country against the owners of the phony sites. The hope of Salvatore Ferragamo is that positive verdicts will finally mark a significant precedent to influence every future legal action against forgery.
In the Philippines, Salvatore Ferragamo is exclusively distributed by Stores Specialists, Inc. (SSI) and is located at Greenbelt 4, Rustan’s Makati, Power Plant Mall, Rustan’s Tower, Rustan’s Cebu, Newport Mall, and Alabang Town Center.
