May 13, 2008 - Jibbitz LLC, the maker of ornamental charms for Crocs shoes, won a $56 million default judgment against a Chinese company that was found to infringe on 179 of Jibbetz's copyrighted designs, had 33 additional designs that were "identical or deceptively similar" to Jibbetz designs and even used the Jibbetz name and logo on their website.
The defendants - Jeffrey Ye, Yuanhui Chen, Jinjiang Huakai Shoes & Garments Co. Ltd. and Xiamen Unibest Import & Export Co. Ltd. - did not respond to the complaint and failed to appear at a March hearing for a preliminary injunction.
The default judgment was signed April 29, and Las Vegas police seized shoe charms the defendants had for sale at the World Shoe Association trade show in Las Vegas.
Last May, Jibbitz won a $1.8 million judgment after the federal court in Nevada found Joinworld Industrial & Trading Ltd. had infringed on more than 60 of Jibbitz designs.
There are so many knock offs of different products including purses such as Coach, Vuittan, etc., that I am glad Crocs subsidiary won the $56M lawsuit. More companies need to file for copyright infringement and patent infringement. Then again, maybe the purse companies already have along with other companies being violated by patent infringement.