Fendi’s 24-Year Counterfeit Battle with Burlington and the $10 Million Settlement

Counterfeit & Criminal Empires3/5 wildness

Fendi’s 24-Year Counterfeit Battle with Burlington and the $10 Million Settlement

Fendi and Burlington Coat Factory / 1980s-2010s

Fendi spent more than two decades fighting the unauthorized sale of imitation handbags and leather goods through American discount retail. The dispute began in 1986, when the Roman luxury house sued Burlington Coat Factory over alleged sales of counterfeit Fendi-branded products. The case produced an injunction intended to stop further infringement, but Fendi later concluded that Burlington had violated that order and filed another lawsuit in 2006. In 2010, a U.S. magistrate recommended that Burlington pay Fendi slightly more than $5.6 million in damages, attorneys’ fees, and litigation costs. Burlington ultimately agreed to a substantially larger $10.05 million payment, turning a long-running trademark fight into one of Fendi’s most consequential public battles over the value and control of its double-F identity. The case illustrates how luxury brands increasingly treated discount retailers—not only street-market counterfeiters—as a major threat to brand exclusivity, trademark integrity, and revenue.