Sophia Michaels
Harry Styles has filed a lawsuit against online sellers in an attempt to stop the sale of unauthorized merchandise proliferating on the internet.
Billboard Pro reports that lawyers for the Harry’s House singer filed the legal action Tuesday in a Chicago federal court, the latest in a series of lawsuits by both brands and artists that aim to curb the amount of counterfeit items online.
“Plaintiff is forced to file this action to combat defendants’ counterfeiting of its registered trademarks, as well as to protect unknowing consumers from purchasing counterfeit products over the Internet,” the lawsuit states, adding that the items — which also appear on legitimate marketplaces like Etsy and Amazon — make it “difficult for consumers to distinguish such stores from an authorized retailer.”
As part of the lawsuit, Styles’ lawyers asked for a sweeping takedown of the unauthorized sellers’ items, with the lawsuit listing specific URLs and not actual vendors or people. The suit also notes that many of the counterfeit items are from online sellers based mostly in China and “other foreign jurisdictions with lax trademark enforcement system.”
“Tactics used by defendants to conceal their identities and the full scope of their operation make it virtually impossible for plaintiff to learn defendants’ true identities and the exact interworking of their counterfeit network,” the lawsuit adds.
Billboard Pro notes that the blanket takedown of unauthorized and fake merchandise has recently been employed by artists like Nirvana and the estate of late rapper XXXTentacion, as well as larger corporations like Nike and Tommy Hilfiger.
