Counterfeits have been one major negative side effect of the rise of ecommerce. And as fakes continue to multiply worldwide, the legal teams of the biggest companies are increasingly using a weapon known as the mass counterfeiting lawsuit, according to Above The Law. 

• Defining “mass”: Gaston Kroub dug through counterfeit lawsuit data on Lex Machina and found a significant rise in lawsuits where 20 or more defendants, listed as John Does on an attached schedule, were accused of counterfeiting. Nearly 2,000 had been filed over the last decade, including 400 of them in 2019.   

• They get results: The data showed that 69% of the cases had ended with a default judgment against the defendants and 11% with a voluntary dismissal. 

• Why “mass” is better: Counterfeiting suits targeting one specific defendant are expensive and even a favorable result may not stop a widespread issue. Mass counterfeiting suits have an ability to shut down multiple knockoffs at once.  

The Verdict  

Mass counterfeiting lawsuits are likely to remain a weapon, especially for major players. The companies who had filed them include Oakley, Chanel and Louis Vuitton.