MILAN — As part of its ongoing fight against counterfeiting, the Salvatore Ferragamo group said Thursday it had blocked the sale of — and destroyed — counterfeit products valued at more than $7 million.
The Florence-based company last year intercepted and barred around 90,000 counterfeit products, which were removed from online auctions. It also recovered and/or cancelled more than 350 domain names and illegal Web sites.
Ferragamo’s efforts, centered mainly on China and the Internet, led to the Chinese customs authorities’ confiscation of more than 1,500 counterfeit products leaving the country. Over the years, Ferragamo has won around 10 civil court cases against respondents involved in illegal activities, and in 2013, it succeeded in shutting 400 illicit Web sites.
“In 2014, we increased the number of e-commerce sites that we monitor. In China, we have also expanded our offline checks, targeting trade fairs and resellers in particular,” said chairman Ferruccio Ferragamo. “Also in China, the 2013 ruling against a high-end hotel whose store sold counterfeit products was upheld on appeal. We will further intensify our commitment to fighting counterfeiting in 2015, both to protect our intellectual property rights and to defend our customers. In this way, we will continue to wage this war with great determination, expanding controls both online and offline and ramping up anti-counterfeit measures, including with the customs authorities.”