Zero Tolerance this Summer in Italy for Buyers of Fake Luxury Good

Italian newspapers reported that last Sunday, June 6 2010, an Austrian tourist who bought a 7 Euro fake Louis Vuitton purse from a beach vendor in Jesolo, an Italian beach resort near Venice, got slapped with a 1,000 Euro fine.

Under Article 1(7) of Law No. 80/2005 and subsequent amendments, an administrative fine between 100 and 7,000 Euros can be applied to end consumers for the purchase or acceptance for any reason, without first having ascertained their lawful source, of objects that, due to their quality or due to the conditions of who is offering them or due to their price, induce one to believe that IP laws have been infringed.

This provision has rarely been applied in the past but, this summer, the administrations of several vacation places have announced their intention to make extensive use of the same to crack down on counterfeits.

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Pier Luigi Roncaglia is a founder and the managing partner of leading Italian law firm Studio Legale SIB, specialized in the field of intellectual property. With offices in Florence, Milan and Rome, and a liaison office in New York, Studio Legale SIB provides judicial and extra-judicial assistance in Italy and the European Community and legal advice to Italian and foreign clients, including some of the world's most prestigious companies in the fields of luxury goods, fashion, entertainment, information technology and pharmaceuticals.