I think fines like this are a good idea. Having seen a creative friends work ripped off, I have no time for copying like this (even if the company is supposed to be evil). Either buy the original or buy something in your price-range if you can't afford it.
This sort of copying depletes the value of the brand and hurts both the company and those who work for them.
So I'm all for stopping the trade by giving fines to those who buy the product. In Rome we were advised that buying illegal bags would get you a rather hefty fine (and saw a couple being handed out).
Personally I'd never own a piece of LV, unless it's one of the gorgeous vintage traveling trunks, it would look amazing in my study!
By the way, most of the ladies on Langstrasse are currently sporting fake LV bags with logos. If I wanted an expensive bag, it would not feature a prominent logo beyond a clasp as I find this quite vulgar. Although there is that one Gucci bag at the back of my wardrobe...
Not just only the ladies on Langstrasse. Lots of younger ladies (late teens it seems) seem to be sporting fake LVs and Guccis here in Zurich too.
I've seen so many around and it irritates the daylights out of me. My husband calls me a sniffer dog for fake goods. I can spot one quite quickly and when I do, I have this insane desire to go up to them and rip those fakes apart.
So if I drink Bud beer in the USA and come back to Switzerland with my beer belly, will they pay for the surgery to have that fixed, seeing The Anhesuer Busch company may not use the Bud brand in Europe as the Budweiser company owns that and consider the US Bud brand to be an illicit counterfeit.
A slightly ironic statement when you look at how much the fashion industry rips off from other designers
(PS my step daughter was in fashion design. "Borrowing" other peoples designs are a way of life) However that may be a tad difference from trying to pass of a hookey version as the real thing. Doesn't anyone actually buy a fake and not know it is one?
I can't remember exactly where I read it (I'll see if I can find the article, Monocle maybe?), but it said that the designer brands are now charging a premium to get a bag not covered in logos as they're now viewed as passe . Give it a couple of years and they'll be carrying around counterfeit bags with subtle branding
The so called borrowing in fashion is endemic. As you say though, it is a very different matter though to counterfeit someones work entirely. And yes I'm sure there are people who think that the 'really cheap item they bought in Bali' is an original.
This I don't agree with as even if I could afford one I would never buy an LV bag as there are too many fakes around. The brand has lost or is losing it's exclusitivity because of them.
When I think of "fake" product, the first two coming to mind are "Mr, Mr, Rolex watch?" and LV bags. I believe that the fakes do not only harm the brands, but the brands at least equally benefit from them. Before my wife bought an LV bag, my mom didn't know the brand at all. If you don't know the brand, it doesn't work as a status symbol. Say what you want, but people do not buy a Rolex for the design and much of the LV stuff is not fashionable, but the two have both a very distincive design - so you can recognize them. This makes them work as status symbol. If you see one, you know what it is and that it is expensive.
That many millions of people who cannot afford them buy cheap copies only raises the recognition of the design. So even the last farmer in central Asia knows what a Rolex is. Not because he has seen one, but because he has seen a fake one...
I am not a fashion expert, but even I can spot most of the fakes pretty easily. So the chicks on Bahnhofstrasse surely can as well - so the people who actually buy the real ones will look at yours and not think it's a fake if it isn't. I have been to China many times and the only fakes that managed to convince me were so expensive that I wouldn't spend so much on a fake product. (like some 700 RMB - 100 CHF for a high quality faked belt...)
I think the fakes do fairly little harm to the brand and nobody seriously buys a five CHF bag instead of buying the 600 CHF one... so it cannot be seen as "lost revenue" either. So all the reports "5 Billion lost through fake products" or so are not worth the paper they are written on.
I was stopped in GVA once having bought a brand new and very nice black tie suit at a very low knock down price from a gypsy. It was a no-name brand but looked very elegant and expensive so the customs official asked to see the receipt. I said he hand't given me a receipt. So the official started searching my stuff and found a reciept from Burger King for a burger and a coke for maybe about 1000 pesetas. He asked me "is this the receipt" and I said probably not, seeing it had "Burger King" written on top and "burger" and "coke" written besdies the numbers. He said he thought it was the receipt and charged me duty for that amount, so I got away really cheap.
I think it comes with age. I have a love affair with designer bags and shoes. Lately I am just so so so in love with Bottega Veneta. I love how subtle they are. Ahhhhhhhhhhh....nice baggy baggy...
A bit unfair when I know all my european friends who only wear and buy fake stuff in Shanghai, bags, clothes, nintendos etc..and no one have been ever caught when flying back. I myself carried some fake dvds in my shipping to Swizterland( but most of them i threw away before leaving china) and nothing happened. if they're going to fine people, they should be more consistent..and of course, when i fly alone with my 2 kids no one wants to stop me at the airport or directly from the plane.
I think it is because of counterfeits that Louis Vuitton has reached such brand recognition. If there were no counterfeits, fewer people would be aware of it. Louis Vuitton is not suffering financially. They still have revenues of $24 Billion. Perhaps it is the customers who buy the genuine articles who lose the most "exclusivity" value from the counterfeits.
Maybe it's just me but I hate threats. Call me a pedant but I believe that if people threaten blood they should get blood. I would write back and say "sue me". IMHO these people go for out of court settlements because they don't want to risk losing in court. Start off by talking to a lawyer to find out how realistic your chances are. It could well be that they're bluffing and that if you ignore their letters for long enough they will give up. It could well be that if you can claim that your bag pre-dated the present legislation and that you've been using it for years that you can plead some grandfather rights. They know that if they lose once thousands of others can refer to your case and they might prefer not to let things go that far.