Luxury-goods retailer Coach is accusing 13 shops on the Ocean City boardwalk of selling knockoffs of its high-end products.
In nine lawsuits filed this week in U.S. District Court in Maryland, Coach says that the Ocean City stores sold counterfeit Coach items in order to deceive the public and profit from the Coach brand.
A Coach investigator in June found dozens of fake products at each store, according to the lawsuits.
The suits say that the counterfeit bags, wallets, scarves and other good sold for about $20 to $70. Actual Coach products can cost several hundred dollars.
The fake items, Coach says in the lawsuits, “are likely to create a false impression and deceive customers, the public and the trade into believing that there is a connection or association between the infringing products and Coach.”
Coach argues in the suits that the branding on the counterfeit items is “confusingly similar to Coach’s trademarks.”
The boardwalk stores named in the lawsuits are: Beachbreak, Fashion Shop, Hot Topik, Jewel of the Ocean, Maytalk, New York New York, Oceanfashion Boutique, Ocean Reef, Ocean Waves, Summer Breeze, Sunglass City, Sunset Beachwear and Surf Beachwear.
Representatives from the stores could not be reached or did not return calls for comment.
No lawyers were listed for the stores in online court records as of Wednesday.
Coach is accusing the businesses of counterfeiting, trademark infringement, false advertising and other related civil counts.
The availability of the fake products has “diluted the distinctive quality of the famous Coach trademarks,” according to the lawsuits.
The retailer is seeking $2 million in damages for each counterfeit violation at each store, or for the stores to pay Coach the full amount of profits earned from the sale of the fake products.
