1) Louis Vuitton against the Boulevard Mall in Las Vegas

Just because money doesn’t grow on trees doesn’t mean you should water your bank account with counterfeit sales and think no one’s watching. This is a classic case of luxury law meets low-rent commerce, from LV (Louis Vuitton)  to LV (Las Vegas).  Louis Vuitton filed a lawsuit to the U.S. District Court in the District of Nevada, accusing the operators of Boulevard Mall in Las Vegas of allowing the sale of counterfeit Louis Vuitton products by tenants, which is already bad, but Louis Vuitton’s saying Boulevard Mall did that knowingly, which is even worse. Apparently, despite Vuitton’s repeated pleas to stop the madness, mall operators - led by Dennis Troesh, who I’m sure is delighted to be in the news - turned a blind eye, all while their pockets were getting fatter thanks to the foot traffic those fake bags brought in. Even after law enforcement confiscated thousands of fakes in 2022, the mall management’s strategy to stop the madness was flimsy at best, non-existent at worst.

Turns out, when you’re in the business of selling fakes, the only thing growing faster than customer traffic is your list of legal trouble. And of course, when the sweet sweet incentive of rental revenue rolls in, it’s hard to put a stop, or even a yield sign to slow the knockoff-loving shoppers from flooding in like it’s Black Friday every day, with management too busy counting cash to care. While it’s not what you know; it’s what you can prove, Louis Vuitton’s got a mountain of receipts to back this up. And to make sure the mall knows that “genuine” isn’t just a suggestion, they’re seeking statutory damages, an injunction to prevent the defendants from leasing space to counterfeit vendors, and an accounting of profits derived from these sales. This serves as a great lesson not to mistake counterfeit selling for a business model! 

2) Crocs against the U.S. International Trade Commission

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then copyright infringement is the biggest insult your lawyer can handle. And apparently, some competitors think they can swipe Crocs' signature 13-round holes and textured heel strip without so much as a thank-you note. The legal battle between Crocs, Inc. and the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) is still happening in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. This is all taking place because the ITC denied Crocs’ request for a General Exclusion Order, which essentially means Crocs wants to block the importation of products that, they claim, infringe its trademark. Those clogs aren’t just clogging up the fashion scene - they’re plugging up the courtroom, too. The company claims that competitors are stepping all over their signature look: the 13 round holes and that textured heel strip we all know (and some secretly love). They’re insisting that a broader import ban is necessary to stop widespread knockoffs, and they came prepared with evidence: Exhibit A: social media posts where users can’t tell fake from real. Exhibit B: a competitor’s COO, under oath, confusing their own shoe for a Crocs original. To be fair, if you can’t tell your own product apart from a Croc, maybe it’s time to leave the business and start a new hobby. 

On the other side of the trial, the ITC is saying that Crocs can protect those 13 holes and the textured heel strip - since they’re that unique - but not the entire look of the Classic Clog. Because why stop at some design features when you can act like you’ve invented the foam shoe? Maybe next time Crocs will try trademarking the whole foot, who knows? The ITC also says that Crocs didn't prove their 3D marks are famous enough for a dilution claim and that the current Limited Exclusion Orders are plenty. But then again, who’s surprised - Crocs is insisting that these limited measures are about as useful as wearing sandals with socks - painfully simply missing the point. So, juts stick to what you know (granted you know what your designs look like Mr. COO), because stealing designs? That’s not how fashion or law works.