NATIONAL: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has suspended the operations of an online store selling counterfeit apparel, following a barrage of complaints from consumers across the globe. The consumer watchdog was granted ex-parte injunctions against Bindert Kloosterman and Xin Fang Shi, the operators of a business known as designerbrandoutlet.com, by the Federal Court late last week.
The operators were accused of selling counterfeit designer garments including Anna Sui, Marc Jacobs and BCBG. In addition to this, the ACCC alleged many consumers who purchased goods from the website never received them.
Despite registering the website with an Australian domain registrar, it was alleged the two business partners did not reside in Australia and had been operating the website from China for approximately a year.
The matter was initially brought to the ACCC's attention by the US Federal Trade Commission (US FTC) as a result of complaints received through consumer protection website eConsumer.gov. The investigation was then carried out in conjunction with the US FTC and UK Office of Fair Trading.
In the ex-parte hearing late last week, Justice Flick granted an interlocutory injunction restraining Kloosterman and Shi from engaging in conduct of the kind alleged in the proceedings on any website. He also ordered the pair be restrained from disposing of, mortgaging, assigning, charging or otherwise dealing with their assets other than for specific living, business and legal expenses.The injunctions would operate until 5pm on September 15.
The ACCC is currently preparing the matter for a final hearing on September 16. It will be seeking orders declaring that Kloosterman and Shi engaged in contraventions of the Trade Practices Act, as well as injunctions restraining both partners from engaging in similar conduct for five years.