Giorgio Armani is a world renowned clothing brand that enjoys an extremely high reputation and position on the global clothing market; as a result, many individual or corporate copycats came to pass themselves off as this renowned brand. In the beginning of 2017, Watson & Band was engaged by Giorgio Armani in a series of trademark enforcement actions in Beijing, Shenzhen and Shanghai.

In January 2019, Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court issued the trial judgment for the Giorgio Armani trademark enforcement case that we represented for the brand, in which the Court supported our claim for damages in the full amount of 3,000,000 RMB. The judgment to a great extent protected the legitimate rights and interests of our client. Said judgment has taken effect.

In this case, the defendant, along with a person surnamed Yang that was not involved in the case, opened a clothing store and a café that counterfeited the Armani brand in Shenzhen. The defendant also provided haute couture services in the store. Their conduct caused great harm to the reputation of the Giorgio Armani brand and brought enormous economic losses to the company.

After our unremitting efforts in nearly three years, the Court not only supported in full amount our claim for damages, but also identified in the judgment that the Giorgio Armani brand’s “ARMANI” trademark was already well-known in the clothing products category. Meanwhile, the person Yang, as a party that should also be held liable for the infringement, had already committed a crime due to his falsification of facts and signatures. Consequently, we also sued him through the judicial approach and held him criminally liable for his misconduct.

The judgment and the punishment against the infringing parties in this case show increasing importance that China’s judicial authorities attach to the protection for IP rights and the severe crack down on the trademark counterfeiting activities. Domestic and overseas rights owners should actively resort to legal approaches to protect their IP rights and other legitimate rights and interests. Watson & Band lawyers will spare no endeavor to safeguard the clients’ IP rights.