Crocs and Ugg toughen up on counterfeiters

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Published
Dec 13, 2012

With just a few days between the two, Crocs and Ugg both relished in a legal victory in their respective battles against counterfeit goods. A Chinese Croc counterfeiter was sentenced to prison and an Ugg supplier was labeled as ‘dishonest’.

18 Chinese workers have been sentenced to a total of 46 years in prison. 128,752 pairs of fake Crocs were seized, estimated to be worth 9.6 million dollars. The business has also been ordered to pay 25,000 dollars in compensation to Crocs.

The sentencing is an exemplary measure for China, in an attempt to underline the country’s seriousness in the fight against counterfeiting. "If you attempt to produce or sell infringing Crocs products, we are going to find you. The lengthy prison terms and heavy fines handed down in these cases show that Chinese authorities are very serious about assisting us to eradicate the production of counterfeit Crocs products in China, and so are we," said Crocs' chief legal and administrative officer, Dan Hart.

Shortly after came an announcement from Deckers that it had identified a “dishonest” supplier. The unnamed supplier allegedly sold several different fake models of Ugg shoes to Verotrade by doctoring official documents to seem as though they had been authenticated by Deckers Outdoor Corporation.

Ugg has been putting on a strong front against counterfeit products. In the weeks leading up to ‘Black Friday’, the brand led an aggressive campaign reminding customers to think twice before ordering possible fake Ugg products, as reported by the New York post.