Tory Burch Lawsuit Ends

Tory Burch

TORY BURCH and former husband, Chris Burch, have finally come to an agreement over their heated legal battle concerning his stake in the brand. Although few details have been disclosed, the pair - who founded the label in 2003, before their split in 2007 - have resolved all pending claims. Additionally, two minority investors have been brought on board - Capital Partners and General Atlantic.

The lawsuit was first filed by Chris Burch in October 2012, claiming that the American designer was trying to interfere with his attempts to sell part of his 28 per cent stake in the brand. She responded by arguing that the businessman's new brand, C Wonder - founded after their divorce, was too similar to her own.

Chris Burch - who called the deal a "milestone transaction" - has retained a stake in the label, although it is not known how much he now owns, WWD reports.

Tory Burch Fall 2011

The fashion names rallied around the Tory Burch and have not been slow in showing their support during this testing time for the luxury designer, including Anna Wintour.

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Dolce & Gabbana's tax evasion trial begins

Italian fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are on trial for tax evasion in the Italian financial capital, Milan.

Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana

You may remember from our early post back in October 2012 Date set for Dolce & Gabbana's tax evasion trial, we reported the designer duo were due to appear on the date set for the trial, 03 December 2012, and now it begins with an unexpected twist to the case.

The pair, of Dolce and Gabbana, are accused of owing tax on a sum of over a billion euros in Italy after moving their brand to Luxembourg in 2004.

Prosecutors allege that they sold their firms to a holding company for well below actual market value.

The designers deny the charges and have said that the allegations are "absurd".

They have not made any recent statements since Mr Gabbana criticised the high court's decision last year, threatening, in a tweet, to leave the country from which he draws much of his inspiration.

Each designer is accused of owing taxes on a sum of 416m euros (£337m; $540m), as well as the Luxembourg-based firm owing tax on 200m euros (£162m; $260m), according to Italy's La Repubblica newspaper.

Six other people, including the pair's tax consultant, are also on trial.

If found guilty, they risk a sentence of up to five years in prison.

At Monday's hearing, the designers' lawyers requested that the entire trial should be annulled due to procedural irregularities.

The court is due to rule on the request on 14 December.

The investigation into the firm's tax affairs began in 2007. They were initially cleared in April 2011 but Italy's highest court overturned that ruling, ordering that the case should be sent back to trial.

The designers are known the world over, with pop star Madonna and model Naomi Campbell among their famous clients.

Designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana

Rates of both corporate tax, and tax evasion, are among the world's highest in Italy.

Prime Minister Mario Monti has made cracking down on evasion a national priority with a series of high-profile police raids in yacht marinas and chic ski resorts targeting people accused of not paying up.

In 2000, the late tenor Luciano Pavarotti paid more than nine million euros in back taxes when he settled a four-year dispute.

Former Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona is also reported to owe some 38m euros in unpaid taxes to the Italian authorities. He has said he wants to clear up his situation.

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Designer Bag Counterfeit Operation Closed

THE US and Chinese governments joined forces to close down a designer handbag counterfeit operation worth $802 million (£503 million). The China-based illegal businesses involved 37 websites producing fake replica versions of Louis Vuitton, Coach and Hermès bags. In total, 73 people have been arrested.

China's Ministry of Public Security revealed that 20,000 counterfeit handbags were seized, as were machinery and enough raw materials to create a further 50,000 items, WWD reports. The operation that led to these arrests and confiscations was led by Jun Qian, who claimed that he personally started creating forged goods when his own leather business suffered during the 2009 recession.

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Kate Middleton Spurs Epidemic Of Counterfeit Goods

A Right Royal Rip Off

When on 02 April 2012, Madam Tussauds in Baker Street and New York unveiled the wax works of newest member of the Royal Family, The Duchess of Cambridge. Kate Middleton standing alongside her husband Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge in their Royal area. No one could have guessed it would begin the largest number of counterfeit items on online sites and see a wave of counterfeiters cashing in on the clothes and fragrances. Kate is known to 'shop her own' closet, to wear in public. The former accessories buyer shops British retailers along with luxury fashion designer, often combining the two in a single outfit.

The royal rip off has triggered an epidemic of mammoth proportions culminating masses of fake goods, arriving in mainly from Asia. The demand to supply an ever hungry public of consumers, willing to buy these goods in a desperate attempt to style themselves after the Duchess, is growing at a frenzied pace. Pundits believe that Kate is all set to become the saviour of British fashion. Certainly, her brand is already thought to be worth millions; one newspaper calculates that she will fuel a £2 billion bonanza for Britain’s economy: ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if Kate Middleton’s legacy is bigger than that of the Olympics, domestically and internationally,’ Dr Harold Goodwin, a professor of tourism at Leeds Metropolitan University, was quoted as saying. Unfortunately, all the major British retailers, whose clothes appear in Kate's public appearances, are victims of this online scam.

Amsterdam Madame Tussauds  get a very impressive recreation of her black lace Alice Temperley gown, worn to the War Horse film première in London this January

Catherine is dressed in an exact copy of the Alexander McQueen floor-sweeping gown from the BAFTA Brits to Watch Awards. Catherine’s figure also sports a painstakingly accurate recreation of the stunning sapphire and diamond engagement ring once worn by the late Diana.

Kate Madame Tussauds NYC recreation of the Alexander McQueen dress The Duchess wore to the BAFTA dinner in Los Angeles last summer sapphire and diamond engagement ring once worn by the late Diana

The Links of London topaz earrings worn by Kate Middleton during her engagement photo shoot at Buckingham Palace have been the party of a design rip off.  The £275 topaz 'Hope' earrings immortalised by the duchess, for Mario Testino's iconic engagement photos with Prince William, has been found on hundreds of websites selling counterfeit copies of the product. This has spurred an estimated £7 million pounds in lost sales for the luxury jewellery and accessories retailer. 

Links of London Hope Egg earrings white topaz, £275

The company stated that after Ms Middleton wore the earrings, they were inundated with orders. The supply soon ran out and restocking took months. In one New York Links of London store, a fight broke out over the last pair of Kate's white topaz 'Hope Egg' earrings.  In the interim the fakes appeared at a 20% discount, selling 1000s of units. This has also been rife with the clothing lines worn by the Duchess. Kate frequently patronises high street shops such as Whistles,Oasis, Reiss and L K Bennet. Once an outfit is photographed, at a public appearance, the images are flashed around the world and if they are still current stock, they sell out within minutes, in the retailers online shops. 

The Issa Sapphire dress, worn for Kate’s engagement, £385.

This has prompted a growing secondary market The famous blue Issa engagement dress is more impressive still. As you might expect, the real thing flew out of Harvey Nichols on the day Kate wore it; but then the knock-off at Tesco, retailing at £16, sold out within an hour of going online. There’s even a waiting list for her wedding fragrance, White Gardenia Petals by Illuminum. When the stock has sold out the fakes start to appear some with counterfeit labels and tags. 

FRAGRANCE, Illuminum White Gardenia Petals, £70

With there appearing to being no end in sight for the counterfeit market, it will be the British retailers and us the consumer that will end up paying the price.

pic credit Madame Tussauds and Links of London

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Traffic stop leads to alleged counterfeit goods & pictures

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Police say a license plate violation led them a stash of alleged counterfeit goods.

Officers made the traffic stop along Interstate 85 near Hamilton Mill Road on Monday night.

Gwinnett police emailed Channel 2 Action News on the 27 June 2012, photographs of counterfeit Louis Vuitton, Coach, and Michael Kors purses they found inside the car.

Counterfeit Louis Vuitton, seized

Police arrested the driver, 34-year-old, Adrian Kaiser, of South Carolina. Investigators said he offered a couple of reasons for having the merchandise.

"He initially claimed that they belonged to his wife,” Gwinnett County Police Cpl. Ed Ritter said.

Counterfeit Michael Kors, seized

Then, he later stated he bought the items for $25 and he was taking them back to South Carolina to sell them for $40, Ritter said.

Counterfeit Coach, seized

Kaiser is charged with having forged or counterfeited good and driving without a license.

This goes to support our own first hand insight into the counterfeit merchandise presented to us, is getting extremely more sophisticated, as we compile an updated report of our own studies.

Additional content thanks to Channel 2 Action News

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73 held in crackdown on counterfeit luxury goods ring

Counterfeit bags on sale in market 

Reporting on our sources, By Ni Yinbin (Shanghai Daily) THOUSANDS of fake luxury products have been confiscated and 73 suspects detained in southern China in a crackdown on what police say was a major source of counterfeit goods. 

More than 20,000 bags and suitcases purporting to be famous brands such as Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Coach were confiscated in the suspects' hideouts along with 17 manufacturing machines, 91 bank cards and deposit books, the Ministry of Public Security said.

Investigators said that more than 960,000 fake bags of various brands had been manufactured by the ring and many of them had been exported to the United States and the Middle East.

They estimated the value of the infringement of intellectual property rights case to be 5 billion yuan (US$802 million).

In January this year, police received information that the suspects, led by a man surnamed Qian, were making fake Louis Vuitton and Coach bags in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province, and exporting them to countries including the United States. 

Police launched an investigation and contacted US Immigration and Customs Enforcement for their help.

Throughout the next few months, police in Guangdong, Fujian and Anhui provinces mapped the gang's manufacturing, storing, transport and export network with the cooperation of the US authorities. 

Police launched a raid to capture Qian and his accomplices as they tried to smuggle another batch of fake bags to the US.

Police said that in 2010 Qian rented several stores in Guangzhou to handle orders and set up more than 10 hideouts for the manufacture of fake bags and other leather items and accessories. 

The gang then smuggled the fake products to the US and the Middle East with the help of overseas clients, police said.

Qian and the gang are said to have made huge profits from the business.

They had even managed to buy more than 33,000 square meters of land in Anhui Province where they were planning to build a factory, police said.

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L’Oreal accused of Misleading Claims in Advertising Anti-aging Products & Skin 'Whitening'

French cosmetics giant L'Oréal has until Sept. 22, 2012 to respond to warnings by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to stop making misleading marketing claims for its Genifique Youth Activating Concentrate, which claims to boost "the activity of genes and stimulate the production of youth proteins."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned cosmetics giant L'Oreal to stop making misleading marketing claims for its anti-aging skincare products. The FDA accuses L'Oreal subsidiary Lancome, which manufactures Genifique, of making outrageous claims about its anti-aging lotion that are not scientifically substantiated.

In a letter sent Sept. 7 by the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the agency asked that L'Oreal modify its website and product labels to ensure the claims don’t violate drug regulations.

Genifique-Youth-Activating-Concentrate

In its ad for Genifique, L'Oreal claims that its lotion "helps create more youthful looking skin in just 7 days by promoting the production of proteins that are characteristic of young skin."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sent a letter to French cosmetics giant L’Oreal and warned them to stop making misleading marketing claims for its Genifique Youth Activating Concentrate, which claims to boost “the activity of genes and stimulate the production of youth proteins.”

The FDA accuses L’Oreal subsidiary Lancome of making outrageous claims that it is able to change the functions and structure of the human body in the same way that a drug can.

If the claims were true, Genifique would be considered a drug, and thereby subject to FDA regulatory scrutiny. This year, the FDA began aggressively targeting beauty products that make outrageous anti-aging claims that try to straddle the line between being a cosmetic and a drug. Cosmetic products are not subject to the same rigorous regulatory scrutiny that drugs are. The agency asked that L’Oreal change its website and product labels to ensure the claims don’t violate drug regulations.

Failure to make the requested corrections would result in legal action against the manufacturers and distributors as well as the withdrawal from the U.S. market of the illegal products.

Rachel Weisz banned Revitalift UK ad

This isn't the first time L'Oreal fallen foul on its marketing propaganda. In February 2012, a L'Oreal advertisement featuring actress Rachel Weisz was banned in the U.K. because the digitally-enhanced ad photo of the 42-year-old Oscar winner was so unrealistic-looking that it grossly exaggerated the performance of the anti-wrinkle cream.

And in September 2011, L'Oreal came under fire after being accused of lightening Indian actress Freida Pinto's skin tone in a makeup ad. Just three years earlier, L'Oreal was accused of doing the exact same thing to singer Beyonce in a cosmetics ad. In both instances, L'Oreal denied "whitewashing" its spokesmodels' skin tone.

Paris-based L'Oreal as yet, failed repeated media requests for comment on this recent allegation.

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Pic Credits: L'Oreal/Getty