Gucci’s efforts to combat counterfeiting dates back to the 2000s. It has used microprinting and holograms to tackle cloning. But, the efficacy of holograms and microprinting have been outdated long ago for counterfeiters to evolve with the brands, too. As time passed, microprinting and holograms could be replicated to astonishing accuracies. The inefficacies of these methods are reflected in the counterfeiting statistics over the following years. 

Following that, the brand has majorly relied on Legal actions against counterfeiting.

Their ruthless IP & Legal Team:

Gucci established an in-house intellectual property team, which is critical in the brand’s anti-counterfeiting operations. This team is in charge of removing counterfeit product listings from multiple sites. 

Gucci’s legal staff is continually monitoring counterfeit operations to suit them. They filed an extensive number of lawsuits against counterfeiters and sellers, seeking monetary penalties and a halt to counterfeit manufacturing. Following are some of the prominent stories.

The rise of e-commerce has brought with it a new set of challenges. Due to the enormous number of transactions and the difficulties in regulating them, e-commerce websites have become sources to promote and execute counterfeiting. Alibaba, a Chinese E-commerce giant, proves to be an interesting case. Gucci’s parent company, Kering, sued Alibaba, the e-commerce Giant, in 2015. Kering said that Alibaba’s ecosystem enabled counterfeiting uncontrollably. It claimed that Alibaba was promoting an environment for counterfeiters to thrive by selling keywords such as “replica” on its online marketplace.