Italian fashion house Versace has been awarded a massive $20 million in damages by a court in the US city of Los Angeles for wilful counterfeiting.
Following a complaint from Versace, police charged 110 people in southern California and Arizona in 2003 for selling fake Versace goods.
The award is the highest-ever given to an Italian company defending its brand, Versace says.
More than 70 retail shops were seized during the case for selling counterfeited Versace products.
“We have won a historic judgement,” Versace chief executive Gian Giacomo Ferraris said.
The effects of the ruling would benefit all of the luxury Italian brands, he added.
Versace – which was founded by the late Gianni Versace in 1978 – posted revenues of $359.6 million in 2009, according to Reuters.
But the company cut a quarter of its workforce last year, blaming a slump in demand for luxury goods and designer items.
The brother of the late Gianni Versace, Santo Versace, was a key witness in the case.
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