Fashion designer wins $90m in counterfeit lawsuit

Alexander Wang has won a massive $90m in damages in a lawsuit brought against the owners of hundreds of websites selling knock-off copies of his products.

The clothing and accessories company won its lawsuit - which accused 45 defendants operating 495 websites of trademark infringement as well as 'cybersquatting' (using a domain name to profit from someone else's trademark).

The award is largely symbolic however as - in common with most cases of this type - it is almost impossible to trace the owners of the websites. Similar multimillion dollar pay-outs have been won in cases brought by Gucci America and other leading fashion brands.

"Protecting our brand requires maintaining constant vigilance on a global scale as well as taking proactive measures such as sending cease and desist orders directly to domestic and foreign counterfeiters as well as contacting website servers that host counterfeit sites," the fashion house's chief principle officer Dennis Wang, told VWD.com.

"The creativity and originality of our designs are the foundation upon which the company is based," he added.