The Court of Appeal more than doubled the damages payable to Louis Vuitton Malletier on Wednesday, as it determined that the seller had blatantly infringed its logos through the online sale and promotion of counterfeit products, according to The Straits Times.
The seller, Ng Hoe Seng, operated online stores under the Instagram handles “emcase_sg” and later “emcrafts_sg”.
Court documents showed that the accounts advertised products including phone cases, watch straps, passport covers, pouches and cigarette cases bearing signs identical to well-known Louis Vuitton logos without the company’s consent. In total, there were nine categories of infringing goods.
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A smartphone case with the Louis Vuitton logo, distributed by emcase_sg, is sold on the internet. Photo via Carousell/julynn |
LVM conducted trap purchases in 2022 and 2023 before filing a trademark infringement suit against Ng.
In November 2023, the High Court ruled in favor of LVM, finding that Ng had committed at least 121 acts of infringement involving 13 registered Louis Vuitton trademarks used across nine categories of counterfeit products, including spectacle cases, passport covers and key cases.
Judgment was entered by default against Ng after he failed to appear in court or contest the proceedings.
The High Court subsequently awarded LVM SGD200,000 in statutory damages under the Trade Marks Act. LVM appealed the decision, arguing that damages were too low and should be assessed separately for each infringed trademark – an interpretation that could have increased the award into the millions.
The case later went before the Court of Appeal, which clarified how damages should be assessed in counterfeit trademark disputes.
LVM was ultimately awarded SGD510,000 in statutory damages, including SGD70,000 each for counterfeit phone cases, key cases and pouches, and SGD30,000 for cigarette cases.
The Court of Appeal also ordered Ng to pay Louis Vuitton an additional $40,000 in legal costs for the appeal, on top of the revised damages award.
