Made in Italy: The Antitrust Authority, in collaboration with the Special Market Protection Unit of the Guardia di Finanza (Italian Tax Police) shuts down 15 websites selling counterfeit products branded Tod’s and Roger Vivier
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
Made in Italy: The Antitrust Authority, in collaboration with
the Special Market Protection Unit of the Guardia di Finanza (Italian Tax Police)
shuts down 15 websites selling counterfeit products branded Tod’s and Roger Vivier
Sixth intervention of the Authority in defence of online buyers convinced of purchasing branded products for discounted prices.
The Antitrust Authority carried out a new consumer protection intervention for online buyers of counterfeit branded products, convinced of buying originals. In fact, with two distinct investigations, in collaboration with the Special Market Protection Unit of the Guardia di Finanza (Italian Tax Police), the Authority shut down 5 websites selling products branded Tod’s and 10 websites selling products branded Roger Vivier.
According to the reports submitted by Indicam (the Brand Centre Institute for fight against counterfeiting), which forwarded the complaints on behalf of the brand holder, consumers were misled by the structure of the websites, ‘built’ so as to look like the official dealers of the products advertised. The highly discounted offers with reference to the official prices seemed credible not only for the names, but also for the images and photos inserted. Said websites were essentially clones of the originals as regards format and images. The websites did not provide information as required by law concerning purchasers’ rights to annul or change orders, and as regards warranty (which obviously could not be recognized because it involved counterfeit goods); they also provided incomplete and misleading indications.
This is the sixth intervention carried out by the Italian Competition Authority in collaboration with the Special Market Protection Unit of the Guardia di Finanza (Italian Tax Police) as regards the selling of counterfeit products. The shutting down of these websites follows what already carried out as regards the cloned websites of products branded Prada, Gucci and Ray Ban; whereas, as regards the counterfeit goods branded Hogan, after the launching of the investigation for unfair commercial practice by the Authority’s offices, the holder of the domain made said website unreachable from the Italian territory.
Rome, 17th June 2013