Cartier, Van Cleef Sue Alleged Counterfeiter

RAPAPORT... Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels have filed a lawsuitagainst a Florida jeweler, claiming willful infringement on a number of theluxury jewelers' famous trademarked collections. Scott King Inc., registered for business as Florida Diamond Brokers andKing Jewelers, allegedly sold imitations of jewelry belonging to theRichemont-owned divisions, the May 6 suit, filed in the US District Court ofFlorida, claims. In November 2018, an agent of Cartier and Van Cleef visitedKing Jewelers, and noticed the store was selling counterfeit copies of the jewelers' pieces. Those imitations included VanCleef's Alhambra and Perl?(C)e collections, as well as Cartier's Love and Juste unClou collections, engraved with the brands' trademarked name, the suit claims. Theprices for the items ranged from $900 to $1,125 for earrings, and more than$6,000 for bracelets, a similar range to Cartier and Van Cleef's own prices. The agent returned to the store the following month, andagain in February, according to the lawsuit. During the first visit, employees ofKing Jewelers allegedly informed the agent that the jewelry was not authenticVan Cleef and Cartier pieces, but rather "inspiration" jewels made to look likethem. An employee also said the productswere not listed in the store's catalogues because they "don't want to get introuble." Cartier and Van Cleef are asking the court to order KingJewelers to turn over all its counterfeit jewelry to them for destruction, and torecall any pieces it has distributed to retailers and other customers. They are also suing for the total amount of profits King Jewelers has made from all sales of thecopied pieces, plus up to $2 million per counterfeited collection and per each jewelry category (bracelets, rings, etc.) within those collections.  King Jewelers and counsel for Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels had not responded to a request for commentfrom Rapaport News by press time. Image: A Cartier Love Bracelet. (Cartier)