Chinese police, Amazon bust fake Salvatore Ferragamo ring

Phil Taylor, 26-Apr-2022

Chinese authorities, working with Amazon and fashion firm Salvatore Ferragamo, have taken down a counterfeiting focused on copying the designer's Gancini belt.

Officials raided a warehouse in Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province, uncovering hundreds of counterfeit belts and buckle accessories mimicking the iconic product, which sell for upwards of $300 apiece. The two companies said in a statement that the action prevented the sale of the fakes "through retail channels around the world."

The case originates from a worldwide investigative effort against certain bad actors, which Amazon and Ferragamo identified as trying to sell on Amazon's platform

In February 2021, Amazon and Ferragamo jointly filed a pair of lawsuits in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington claiming four defendants had attempted to offer products in Amazon's store that infringed Ferragamo's trademarks.

Court documents say that the defendants controlled and operated selling accounts on Amazon they used to peddle fake Ferragamo products, including belts, between 2019 and 2020.

Ferragamo says that in 2021 alone more than 22,000 infringing products and pieces of illicit content were removed from social media platforms and more than 130,000 listings related to counterfeit products were identified and removed from marketplace service providers.

It also carried out controls on physical stores launching several in-and out-of-court administrative and criminal proceedings, with a specific focus on China. Thanks to the increasing cooperation from local authorities, almost 450,000 counterfeit products were seized worldwide, according to the company.

Ferragamo is enrolled in Amazon's brand registry, a free service to any rights owner with the registered trademark that aims to take downs fraudulent listings automatically and allows brand owners to report violations.

It also subscribes to the online retailer's Project Zero programme, a self-service counterfeit removal tool that claims to be able to take down listings within minutes.