Abercrombie & Fitch Trading Co. is taking on various online platforms and retailers in a new lawsuit in which it claims that it has uncovered a network of companies that sell counterfeit fragrances bearing its iconic trademarks. The counterfeiting-centric lawsuit, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on August 29, puts a spotlight on a nefarious and elaborate web of suppliers that the millennial and Gen-Z-favored brand says stretches across the globe and involves businesses in the United States, Singapore, Hong Kong, and the United Arab Emirates.
In the new lawsuit, Abercrombie claims that Quester (U.S.) Enterprises, Beauty Store LLC, Perfume Network, Inc., Dom Stores (which does business as perfume.com), and Sapphire Trading, Inc., among a handful of other parties (collectively, the “defendants”) are on the hook for trademark infringement, counterfeiting, false designation of origin, and unfair competition as a result of their “importation, manufacture, production, distribution, advertisement, marketing, offering for sale and/or sale of counterfeit fragrance products bearing marks identical and/or substantially indistinguishable to Abercrombie’s [trade]marks.”
The formerly-ailing mall brand, which is in the midst of a recent resurgence in popularity with younger consumers, is seeking to put an end to the illicit trade of such counterfeit goods, arguing that they have damaged its reputation and deceived consumers worldwide.
A Global Counterfeiting Operation
The matter goes beyond straightforward allegations about the sale of counterfeit perfume products. In its complaint, New Albany, Ohio-based Abercrombie sheds light on the current state of the supply chains that are responsible for bringing counterfeit goods to the market, highlighting the complex web of suppliers, distributors, and manufacturers that have allegedly worked together to flood the market with goods bearing counterfeit versions of its trademarks.
Abercrombie alleges that it began to uncover an extensive global supply chain that brings counterfeit products from overseas manufacturers to consumers in the U.S. and beyond when it was preparing to wage the separate but similar case that it filed early last year against Beauty Encounter, Inc. That lawsuit, which Abercrombie initiated in March 2023 with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, “arose out of multiple investigations and purchases of [fragrance] products from Beauty Encounter that Abercrombie has examined and confirmed to be counterfeit.”
As a result of discovery in the Beauty Encounter case, Abercrombie alleges that it traced counterfeit fragrance products back to an array of interconnected suppliers located in Florida, New Jersey, California, and New York, including Quester (U.S.) Enterprises and co., and has since pinpointed an even larger supply chain that includes entities in Hong Kong, and Singapore, Dubai, all of which distribute fake Abercrombie products by claiming they are, in fact, genuine items.
As for how the global supply chain works, Abercrombie claims that it consists of a intertwined combination of transactions that often see the counterfeit fragrance products make their way from China to the United States.
In one example listed in its complaint, Abercrombie claims that Adonis Beauty Limited, a Hong Kong-based entity “without any ties to Abercrombie,” purchased counterfeit perfume products from an entity that disguised itself as “Abercrombie & Fitch Hong Kong Limited” despite its lack of ties with Abercrombie. Abercrombie notes that “Abercrombie & Fitch Hong Kong Limited” is “not the same Abercrombie-affiliated entity in Hong Kong that is legitimately conducting business” with it.
Adonis Beauty Limited then sold those products to fellow Hong Kong-based entity Fame Ascent Trading, which sold them to U.S.-based companies, Quester and Modern Perfumes.
> Abercrombie asserts that in an effort to pass off the counterfeit products as the real thing, “Fame Ascent, through Quester, produced a fake letter identifying that ‘Abercrombie & Fitch Hong Kong Limited’ is an authorized and ‘official distributor’ of Abercrombie perfumes.” (Abercrombie says that it has “confirmed this letter has nothing to do with Abercrombie” and that there is “another Chinese or Singaporean entity that is manufacturing the [counterfeits at issue] and pretending to be ‘Abercrombie & Fitch Hong Kong Limited.’”)
The chain is not finished there, however, as Quester sold the accused products to FragranceNet and 24 Distributors, Inc., among others. And Modern Perfumes sold them to companies like FragranceNet, which ultimately offered them up to consumers in the U.S. via its e-commerce site, fragrancenet.com.
No small part of the equation, Abercrombie argues that e-commerce sites and other online platforms play a critical role in the distribution of such counterfeits to consumers. In the lawsuit, Abercrombie alleges that at least some of the defendants are in the business of making the China-made Abercrombie products available to U.S. consumers via sites like FragranceNet.com, FragranceX.com, and UnbeatableSale.com. For instance, FragranceNet, a Delaware corporation, purchased counterfeit products from Quester and other suppliers, then sold them through its website to consumers across the U.S.
But not limited to sales on these websites, Abercrombie claims that the counterfeit fragrances also pop up on third-party marketplaces, such as eBay, Amazon, and Walmart – and even on sites like Shein.
With the foregoing in mind, Abercrombie sets out claims of trademark infringement and counterfeiting, false designation of origin, and unfair competition. The company is seeking injunction to stop the defendants from importing, manufacturing, or selling counterfeit goods; it is also asking the court to require the defendant to produce an accounting of all profits gained from the sale of counterfeit products, along with statutory damages of up to $2 million per infringement.
The case is Abercrombie & Fitch Trading, Co. v. Quester (U.S.) Enterprises, Inc., et al., 1:24-cv-06521 (SDNY).
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