Luxury brand Michael Kors has taken its fight against fakes into its own back yard, filing a suit in a New York federal court that alleges ‘certain areas of New York City have long been major distribution hubs for counterfeit goods that are sold throughout the United States.’

A plague

The filing argues that the Michael Kors brand in particular ‘has been plagued by the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods at locations all over New York City for years.’ In the complaint, Michael Kors alleges that Amush Enterprises and a number of other defendants, who own one specific building in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, ‘have turned a blind eye to the ongoing sale of counterfeit goods at the property.’ According to Kors, ‘Amush Enterprises and the other defendants have allowed a revolving door of counterfeiters to rent or lease space at [155 West 29th Street] since as early as 2007.’

Civil seizures

Michael Kors states, it has conducted a number of ‘civil seizures’ of counterfeit goods sporting the brand’s federally registered trademarks,’ across a range of roducts. The firm states the seizures have taken place ‘in the space rented or leased by’ to New York-based company Am-Tex Apparels and other unnamed defendant counterfeit-sellers, yet they claim Amush Entertprises has ignored correspondence and ‘done nothing to stop the ongoing counterfeiting activity at the property.’ Kors argues Amush Enterprises and any other owners of the building should ‘be held accountable for their complicity in these illegal activities’ and is claiming damages. Attempts to tackle the problem have been made before, when in the early 2000s, a number of lawsuits were filed by fashion brands against landlords and flea market owners in the city.