Moose Knuckles awarded $52m in US counterfeit trial

A federal court in Chicago awarded Canadian clothing firm Moose Knuckles $52m in damages against 26 China-based defendants.

The defendants were each found to be operating rogue Moose Knuckles websites – such as moose-knuckles-fans.com, mooseknucklesoutletonline.com, and mooseknucklesca.org - and selling counterfeits of Moose Knuckles apparel and accessories.

The company says the sites looked very similar its official website and offered only a slight discount to its retail price, making it harder for customers to tell they were on a fraudulent site.

"These sites seem so much more credible than a vendor at a flea market. Usually, it's not until the jacket arrives in the mail that our customers see the poor quality of the product and realize they have been cheated," said Ayal Twik, president of Moose International.

US District Judge Robert Dow Jr issued the award as part of final judgment and permanent injunction finding that each defendant had engaged in wilful trademark counterfeiting and copyright infringement and that each was in default.

In addition to monetary damages, the court ordered that 33 domain names used by the defendants to sell counterfeit Moose Knuckles products, many of which had previously been disabled under a temporary restraining order, be permanently locked and transferred to Moose International.

"This judgment has played a pivotal role in our company's anti-counterfeiting strategy and will allow Moose Knuckles to take more effective and efficient action against online counterfeiters moving forward," said Noah Stern, Moose International's chief executive.