Justin Alexander Files Suit Against CloudFlare Alleging It Enables Infringement

Global bridal powerhouse Justin Alexander and fellow wedding dressmaker Allure Bridal, file a complaint; Allure Bridals v. CloudFlare Inc., W.D. Tenn., No. 2:20-cv-02007 against web hosting and security company CloudFlare Inc.

The January 6 complaint alleges that CloudFlare enables foreign counterfeiters to infringe over 5,000 copyrights owned by both dressmakers.  

According to the complaint, CloudFlare has continued to allow counterfeit dress sellers to use its services despite receiving “thousands of notifications” of infringement. 

Justin Alexander has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars on photo shoots in exotic locations to promote their dresses: “We have been victimized by a massive and unrelenting copyright infringement and counterfeiting scheme” by websites located mostly in China or Southeast Asia that use the photos to sell “cheap imitations” of the dresses.

The complaint continues, “with the slightest of effort, CloudFlare could have confirmed the pattern of infringement.” The complaint argues that Justin Alexander never sells their dresses online and the counterfeiters sell the knockoffs at “grossly discounted prices.” 

CloudFlare has placed corporate profits over the intellectual property rights of the bridal industry by refusing to terminate the accounts of known infringers and counterfeiters.  Consequently, foreign counterfeiters flock to CloudFlare’s content delivery network to enable their websites to penetrate the US market.

To appear authentic, these websites are constructed with photographs misappropriated from websites operated by Allure Bridals, Justin Alexander and other bridal and prom manufacturers. Justin Alexander and Allure Bridals have filed suit to curb CloudFlare’s unlawful aiding of this infringement, which poses a serious threat to the bridal and prom industry.

Counterfeiting is a major concern throughout the fashion industry, and the bridal industry is a common target. 

“These Counterfeiters seek to exploit for themselves the substantial investment we at Justin Alexander have made in designing and developing products and in creating high quality images of our dresses,” states Justin Warshaw, CEO/Creative Director of Justin Alexander.

CloudFlare has significantly contributed to the growth of this problem because CloudFlare refuses to terminate the accounts of known counterfeiters who have been exploiting our images to sell their inferior products. 

Consequently, foreign counterfeiters flock to CloudFlare’s content delivery network to enable their websites to penetrate the US market. Along with Allure Bridals, we decided to file a suit to curb CloudFlare’s unlawful aiding of this infringement which poses a serious threat to the bridal and prom industry and other industries.”

The complaint says CloudFlare provides security and optimization services to the counterfeiters. CloudFlare’s content delivery network service allows the counterfeit sites to operate “as quickly and seamlessly as genuine ecommerce websites to convince US consumers that they are shopping for wedding dresses at a genuine Online Store, the dressmakers say.

CloudFlare’s services also allow the counterfeiters to conceal their identities and IP addresses, according to the complaint.

The dressmakers say CloudFlare has never terminated a repeat infringer in response to notifications sent by Plaintiffs or other bridal manufacturers.

It instead passes the notification on to the allegedly infringing site, which is often located in a jurisdiction that doesn’t require it to take any action, the complaint says. The complaint says CloudFlare also frustrates the dressmakers’ attempts to investigate the sites by blocking access to their anti-counterfeiting vendors’ web crawlers.

The dressmakers are seeking damages, injunctive relief, and attorneys’ fees. 

Justin Alexander Style 8933

Counterfeiter did not leave watermark. However, this was shot at an exotic location in Greece.