Diesel Fights to Protect its Brand

    
     (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20150914/266252 )
    

In 2014 Diesel started a legal action by the US Federal Court in New York, against 83 sites, which were illegally selling counterfeited products by utilizing the cybersquatting technique, and therefore using "Diesel" within the domain name. So far Diesel closed 3,346 sites, sent 4,000 cease and decease letters, and delisted 19,000 sites from Google; it has been calculated that in this way the company has avoided about 700,000 visits to illegal marketplaces; 9,200 bids have been removed completely. In Asia, over the past year Diesel obtained to remove 6786 listings on marketplaces, for a total amount of 1,695,500 items; 131 sites hosted in Asian countries have been shut down.

The custom controls have allowed to seize more than 60,000 items coming from China in 2013, and 75,000 in 2014; more than 80,000 items in the European Community. In China, 1,300 items have just been confiscated in a factory producing counterfeited t-shirts, and in another factory the police seized 910 pairs of shoes with Diesel logo, along with a quantity of unfinished products worth 155,000 USD.

Hundreds of legal actions are in place against usurpative brands, especially in China where the company has an average of 3 actions per week. Last month, Diesel closed successfully the case of the "Diesel Cluthing" line, which was signalled by Diesel business partners who found infringing products circulating in the Colombian market. After thorough investigation, the Chinese authorities confiscated 520 jeans infringing the Diesel trademark: the company, who registered this logo, is now under an opposition process.

On top of these activities, Diesel has established a system to register its iconic products and therefore ensure that any potential copy is identified and sequestrated (in the last six months only, four cases have been closed successfully). The latest triumph took place earlier this year, when Diesel finally won back the property of its brand in Indonesia -- a legal battle which has lasted 23 years.