Louis Vuitton sues Chinese counterfeit online sellers

Louis Vuitton has filed a lawsuit against three previously convicted Chinese online retailers, for selling fake products on the popular local shopping website Taobao. A district court in Beijing has accepted the case, which was filed by the French fashion giant on 4 January.

The Beijing district court's website displays a statement, which says that Louis Vuitton is seeking damages from the three defendants for trademark infringement, Reuters reported. The court's statement also names the three counterfeiters, two of whom share the surname Liang, while the third is surnamed Han.

According to the court's statement, the French luxury goods firm is "asking them to stop infringing on its trademark and is seeking compensation of economic losses". The firm has asked for a compensation of CN¥250,000 ($38,078; £26,204; €34,887).

The three counterfeiters were accused of selling fake Louis Vuitton products on Taobao, which is a local online shopping website that functions in much the same way as Amazon or eBay. The trio have also been previously convicted in 2014 for selling fake Louis Vuitton goods online. However, their criminal sentences have not been specified by the Beijing district court yet.

Taobao is Alibaba Group's online shopping forum and has been previously accused by the American Apparel and Footwear Association as being a hotbed of counterfeit sales and activities. The lawsuit comes on the heels of the United States Trade Representatives (USTR) being asked to ban Taobao from operating within the United States.

Despite numerous claims from the Alibaba Group of working on correcting the issue, Taobao is still believed to be the most notorious online portal for fake products being bought and sold. In fact, this is not the first lawsuit to be filed against Taobao. Kering SA, a luxury goods manufacturer filed a lawsuit against the Alibaba Group in May 2015 accusing the e-commerce giant of not taking action against counterfeiters selling fake goods on its portal, despite being aware of such trademark infringement activities.

So far, no comment has been made by either Louis Vuitton or the Alibaba Group.