The court will deliver its judgment on September 24 in the case of former Hermès employees, tried for making counterfeit bags and against whom the prosecution demanded penalties ranging from fines to prison.
Ten people, aged 30 to 69 years, including seven former employees of the luxury company, were tried in Paris since Wednesday, suspected of having played a role in an alleged network producing replicas of the famous Birkin bag.
"High quality counterfeiting"
The prosecutor on Friday requested sentences of up to 4 years in prison, including two suspended sentences and 200,000 euros fine, with an arrest warrant, for a man considered to be one of the initiators of this criminal enterprise, the only one absent At the trial.
Describing a “high quality counterfeit, which allows a very significant profit”, the magistrate asked for 3 years, 2 of which were suspended, as well as a 100,000 euros fine against another alleged organizer and the same fine, accompanied by 30 months, 20 of which with stay, against a woman suspected of having marketed the bags.
For six other defendants, she requested suspended sentences and fines, as well as a 240-day fine at 30 euros for a former employee, only prosecuted for breach of trust. During the three days of the trial, the defendants admitted a large part of the allegations, which date back to 2013 and 2014.
At the time, crocodile skins were supplied from an Italian supplier in Lombardy. The various stages of production were then carried out at home by employees or ex-employees of Hermès, the bags being exchanged in car parks and in the street.
"Excessive"
These "real fake" bags were sold to Asian tourists in Paris or Hong Kong for at least 20,000 euros. The price of a new bag of this type is around 45,000 euros: in this case, lawyers for the Hermès companies asked for a total of some 2 million euros for moral and commercial damage.
"Excessive", "disproportionate", "indecent", was indignant at the defense during oral argument. Castigating the company's "moral" discourse, several counsel pleaded for release, notably challenging the concept of copyright in its application to the Birkin bag.
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- Justice
- Trial
- Luxury
- Counterfeiting