LOUIS VUITTON MALLETIER V. AKANOC SOLUTIONS, INC.: WHY ISPS SHOULD BE HELD LIABLE FOR KNOWINGLY HOSTING WEBSITES THAT SELL COUNTERFEIT PRODUCTS

Courts of the United States have routinely neglected to hold Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”) liable for contributory copyright and trademark infringement. However, on August 28, 2009, in Louis Vuitton Malletier, S.A. v. Akanoc Solutions, Inc., eight jurors out of the Northern District of California found two ISPs liable for $32.4 million in damages to French luxury retailer Louis Vuitton (“LV”) for neglecting to remove websites that sold LV’s counterfeit products. View More