SEPTEMBER 2008
Americas
CANADA: Louis Vuitton Malletier has won the largest ever damages award in a Canadian trade mark counterfeiting case, after winning a four-year suit against a group of British Columbia-based shop owners. LVMH filed the suit against Wynnie Lee Fashion in 2004 and obtained an Anton Pillar order authorising it to search the shops for counterfeit goods. Despite being caught selling hundreds of fake items, Wynnie Lee continued to operate several stores and to carry the infringing merchandise, even after entering into a settlement agreement with LVMH and paying a C$6,000 ($5,625) fine. On June 19, Madam Justice Boyd of the British Columbia Supreme Court issued a summary trial decision ordering several of the defendants to pay C$980,000, including compensatory, punitive and exemplary damages to LVMH. Nathalie Moulle-Berteaux, IP director of Louis Vuitton, said that the decision indicates a tougher stance by Canadian courts towards counterfeits, despite the country's somewhat weak legal framework for the enforcement of IP rights. Karen MacDonald of Smart & Biggar in Vancouver represented LVMH, while the defendants either represented themselves or were unrepresented.
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