B.C. store that sold fake Louis Vuitton wallet, scarf found in contempt of court, faces fine

A B.C. importer/exporter has been found in contempt of court after she continued to sell Louis Vuitton knockoffs at a Richmond mall years after a judge ordered her not to.

Audrey Wang was shown on recent video footage in Federal Court selling a private investigator posing as a customer a fake Louis Vuitton wallet for $112 at Wang’s store in Parker Place Mall in Richmond, according to the recent decision by Justice Nicholas McHaffie.

The designer’s website shows its wallets today run from $500 to $1,400.

Court heard it was the same private investigator who bought knockoffs used as evidence to support a ban against Wang selling counterfeit items in an earlier trial, in 2019, with a different judge, and that the undercover customer recognized Wang from the earlier visits.

Despite her attempts to appeal, Wang was given a permanent ban in 2019, McHaffie wrote.

She was then ordered to pay $740,000 in damages, to be split among the plaintiffs, which included Louis Vuitton Canada, its French parent company, Christian Dior Couture, Givenchy and Celine, who all sued together, the earlier judgment said.

In the 2019 decision, Wang was joined by other defendants, including her company Canada Royal Import and Export Co. and a courier company, but she alone was found to be in contempt of the ruling in the recent decision.

The private investigator, who was trained by Louis Vuitton to spot a fake, was hired by the mall in December. She testified the store carried a number of luxury branded goods, including bags, handbags, jewelry, scarves and shoes bearing Louis Vuitton branding with cheap prices and telltale counterfeit signs, it said.

The wallet she bought in December was embossed with the company’s trademarked designs and included the company’s name on an exterior snap and on the interior lining. It was wrapped in a cloth bag and came with a booklet and was presented in an orange box and wrapped with a ribbon, all carrying LV trademarks.

The purchase included a branded document holder and receipt showing its price of 6,800 Hong Kong dollars, which is over $1,200 Cdn today, and was placed in a branded orange bag.

The private investigator later texted Wang about her interest in other items before returning to the store in late January to buy a scarf, for $212 and with similar packaging. Both purchases were videotaped.

A company official and the investigator both testified the goods, entered as evidence, were not genuine.

And the official said the wallet would be more than $1,000 and the scarf around $700. Neither would be sold anywhere in the world for the prices they did.

According to the 2019 ruling, Wang was found to have infringed the plaintiffs’ trademarks and to have used “confusing trademarks,” which depreciated their value.

Another term used was engaging in “passing off,” which Canadian trade law bans to prevent a business from misrepresenting its own products to appear as if they were connected to a genuine brand.

To find Wang ignored the 2019 court order under civil contempt laws, the plaintiffs had to establish facts beyond a reasonable doubt, a standard usually imposed for criminal charges, McHaffie said.

Wang, who represented herself at the five-day hearing, questioned the evidence on a number of grounds, including that the fashion house’s official couldn’t prove with certainty that the wallet and scarf were fakes because she saw only photos of them.

But McHaffie dismissed that and other arguments.

He found the order was clear, Wang had knowledge of it, the goods were counterfeit, and the breach was intentional.

He ruled the sales were not a “momentary lapse.”

“It involved ongoing and deliberate advertising and sale of counterfeit goods, confirmed through two sales about seven weeks apart,” he said.

“I therefore conclude that Louis Vuitton has proved each of the three elements of civil contempt beyond a reasonable doubt,” McHaffie wrote.

The court will determine the penalty at a future sentencing hearing, he said.

Named in the action are Wang, (who also goes by Ni Ni Yang or Ni Yang), Michael Yang (also known as Jun Yang), and the company Canada Royal Import and Export, doing business as Ni Fashion, Niyangbassa and Ni Bassa.

Also named is Lian Bazza and Lian Tong Courier Service.

Vancouver anti-counterfeiting lawyer, Karen MacDonald of Cassels law firm, acted for Louis Vuitton and had also represented the companies in the 2019 case. In that one, she had the court issue a freezing order against Wang’s companies’ assets to preserve evidence.

MacDonald has also in various cases defended trademarks of Burberry, Chanel, ReMax, Nintendo and Sony.