Wow, talk about an evil empire. Fendi, distributor of fine goods, sues Walmart. Now, there is no way Fendi is going to go around suing valid distributors of their fine products. And Walmart, conversely, knows exactly where it got the bags from - and apparently it was not Fendi. So, Fendi and Walmart both know the bags are fake.

With full knowledge that it is a cheating piece of lying sac, Walmart nevertheless goes all the way to court, lining the pockets of lawyers and wasting public officials' time on the off-chance that Fendi will give up the case.

What a piece of shiat that company is.

Sams

BKITU: Fail

You are a grade A moran if you think an out-of-court settlement has not already wasted public official's time and paid many many lawyers.

What do you think happens when you sue someone? And pre-trial? And discovery? And when you settle? Anything to do with filing many many papers with the courts? And paying lots of lawyers for it? Maybe? Hmm? Bueller?

As you say, fail. Also, you are a moran.

BKITU: The end.

You are a serious farking idiot. You are plain wrong, just give it up. If you sue someone, you involve the courts. You file papers with the courts. Then when you settle - even "out of court" - you file the settlement with the court.

Go get a civics lesson, and in the meantime STFU about stuff you have no clue about.

Assbucket.

BKITU: This phrase has a very specific implication:

No, it doesn't. You assumed it. Face it, you made a lousy assumption, thought you could use it to pick on someone on the internet, and were 100% wrong. 100%.

Now you won't man up and admit it. Internet tough guy? Don't make me laugh sparky.

Also if your entire post consists of the word "Fail" you lose all right to call any one petulant or childish.

I'm with And-1 here. He's funny!

/could be the weed...

Jeez, it's funny watching the Ron Paul supported (joke) come out and bash BKITU just for pointing out that the description that Wal-Mart dragged it through court and was needlessly wasteful was an inaccurate description.

They did not. Wal-mart pays a ton of taxes and has a right to the court system anyway. I'm sure that they would not want to take anything to a jury if they could avoid, as most people have an irrational hatred of Wal-mart.

Anyway, BKITU was right to call and-1 and the others on their errors. Settling out of court is the least time wasteful thing they could do. The money that went to lawyers was Wal-mart's money, Fendi made more money out of this than they make anywhere else and got a ton of positive publicity. I don't see wal-mart's crime here.

And-1: Correct
BKITU: Fail

/technicality

BKITU;
I gotta go with And-1 on this one. The suit was filed last year and the courts have certainly been involved. Sams Club did not start the suit, but did know that it was selling counterfeits, and allowed the suit to proceed. They could have come to an agreement well before now.

BKITU and And-1 should settle their dispute in court.

Isn't there a joke about fighting on the internet and the special olympics? hhmmmm

Arcanum: Settling out of court is the least time wasteful thing they could do.

No, admitting they bought dodgy handbags was the least wasteful thing they could have done.

They knew it. Fendi knew it. Yet they chose to make Fendi initiate court proceedings instead of just 'fessing up - which they were always going to do in the end.

Denying it was a self-serving waste of time and money - including tax payers' money, not just Walmart's and Fendi's.

But what about the poor consumer that got duped by Sam's Club into buying one of these knock-off bags?

I mean, sure, Fendi gets a bunch of money, but yet again, the Man sticks it to the Average Joe... er Jane.

mypalmike: BKITU and And-1 should settle their dispute in court.

I want a trial of my peers!!<sup>*



*</sup> DO NOT WANT

One real question remains in this thread, at least for me...

What's an assbucket?

/ Fails.
/ Fails spellcheck.

I'm with SLC-Punker because that movie was awesome.

/only posers go all the way to court you farking idiot

Going with And-1 as well - out of court settlements result in the trial ending without a judge ruling on it and have nothing to do with how far along the case has gone. This one had already been moving forward as a real lawsuit for a year, and there would surely have been significant money burned on all sides by now. Companies that attempt to drag things out in hopes they can get away with something they know is illegal as their opposition might not be able to bring the case all the way are scum.

Fail.

So were consumers charged the price of an original bag or were the consumers paying a cheap counterfeit price while winking and nodding right back at Walmart?

beoswulf: So were consumers charged the price of an original bag or were the consumers paying a cheap counterfeit price while winking and nodding right back at Walmart?

well it was at sams club they have a very strange mix of things 800.00 movado watch are ten feet from bulk packs of Big red gum for five bucks. so its hard to say how much they were charging. they had an issue a few years ago with Kalvin Kline for selling his jeans that he claimed were knock off, it turned out that the factory that was making them was selling the irregulars to sams without permission. walmart could have thought that it was the same situation

Monkeys! I have knives and video cameras. Some may die, but the survivors will live as kings.

Also, if you say "the" before "wal-mart," I hope you're first against the wall.

Doen;t say how much they cost, but those handbags cost thousands, so if you see them on sale for, say 100 dollars or something...it's pretty obvious they are either stolen or knockoffs.

Somehow, I imagine the ladies who have the cash to buy these bags don;t go to walmart.

I get my toothpaste at the grocery store (Publix) and wheelbarrows at Home Depot.

WalMart has the suckiness.

If you want very good fake designer bags at a cheap price, the street vendors in New York City have a much better supply.

You know that piece of cloth and zippers you bought at Walmart? It's a piece of cloth and zippers that looks how you want it to look regardless of who made it, so who gives a rat's ass.

Even if legitimate Fendi bags were available at Walmart...

The fact you could get them at Walmart would probably negate the entire purpose of Fendi bags in the first place...

And-1: Arcanum: Settling out of court is the least time wasteful thing they could do.

No, admitting they bought dodgy handbags was the least wasteful thing they could have done.

They knew it. Fendi knew it. Yet they chose to make Fendi initiate court proceedings instead of just 'fessing up - which they were always going to do in the end.

Denying it was a self-serving waste of time and money - including tax payers' money, not just Walmart's and Fendi's.

Even if they admitted it, they still would have had to come up with some way to compensate Fendi for their actions. Some way that was legally sound so they didn't end up paying Fendi with no guarentee that Fendi wouldn't take their money, and they sue them anyway.

Something like....settling out of court, perhaps?

I'm with BKITU on this one. "Going all the way to court" to me, would mean a trial occurs.

dahmers love zombie: Many of the same products (I get my Sam's Club water at WalMart).

Member's Mark is the Sam's Club brand. Sam's Choice and Great Value are the Wal-Mart brands. Those brands are exclusive to the respective store.

Of course, the Sam's Choice water and Member's Mark water are almost certainly exactly the same thing with a different label.

One thing that cheeses me off about Sam's Club is the inconsistency of availability of certain products between stores. When I visit PA, I can get a ginormous bag of Pirate Booty at the local Sam's. At the ones around here? Not so much. Bastards.

Who cares? Fendi bags are fugly at any price.

Costco manages to sell them (and toothpaste! :) )...

Or maybe you should stop buying ridiculously priced designer bags that are nothing more that a few pieces of fabric poorly sewn together with a couple shiny baubles and zippers needlessly scattered across it.

Those farkin things are such a scam, but women eat them up.

Does Fendi make assbuckets?

And I guess Lurlene keeps her "Fendi" bag and continues to impress her friends?

That is, once she tells her friends exactly what a Fendi bag means...

I sell pricy handbags at work. I'm getting a kick, etc.

At least once a week, some smug blowsy biatch waddles in and wants me to "authenticate" her Dooney, Coach, or other bag. I ask her why she needs to have it "authenticated" because if she bought it at our store, it's authentic, right? RIGHT?

Then the truth comes out that the bag is from a street vendor in the Caribbean or bought on a cruise ship, or from a flea market.

Ahem.

So then I point out that contacting the company will settle the question of authenticity once and for all. The slattern never wants to do that, however. She always wants me to just look at it and tell her it's "real" so she can brag about how cheap it was.

I love a classy bag as much as anyone, and probably more, but do not buy your Fendi at Wal Mart and stroll it in wanting some poor retail shlub to authenticate it. I have real customers to help.

/Love my employee discount.

frankmanhog (and others)

You obviously have no idea of how the system works, going to trial is only ONE little piece of taking a matter to court. (In fact, as an attorney, I can tell you its often the shortest part of the processs.) Often, the most involved and expensive part of the process is the pre-trial discovery which can last for months upon months and involve 10 times as much work as an actual jury trial.

Once a lawsuit is filed, its "in court" and because the media has invented a term which isn't based in reality called an "out of court" settlement, doesn't mean it really is "out of court." The judge still has to sign off and enter a dismissal to end the court's involvement in the matter since they have jurisdiction over it.

In every bit of litigation (or settlement offers, that occurred pre-filing of a lawsuit), I have ever been involved with, the first thing you do is notify the other side of the problem and start negotiations for them to end their practices and/or compensate you for your losses. The filing of a lawsuit, typically only comes if you fail at that step. Once you bring suit, you will often run up massive bills taking depositions, digging through document requests, filing various motions, etc. All of those are "in court." In short, 95% of what happens in litigation happens before you ever come close to seating a jury, so this notion that Wal*Mart didn't basically force Fendi into court is pure nonsense.

mikebok I judge women purely on their fashion sense. If they wear a lot of designer crap, I steer clear. It shows a lack of character. Hot chicks are hot in burlap sacks anyway.

So THAT'S why my Fendi bag killed my cat.

I cannot believe that other women spend so much on a stupid handbag. I can usually find a nice leather purse for 50-75 at your local leathercrafter's or if Kohl's has a decent sale.

I'm willing to bet 98% guys don't know that your bazillion dollar purse is special and neither do I. But if that makes you feel better about yourself - whatever.

I would be more concerned if the toothpaste was counterfeit.

cardex
they had an issue a few years ago with Kalvin Kline for selling his jeans that he claimed were knock off, it turned out that the factory that was making them was selling the irregulars to sams without permission. walmart could have thought that it was the same situation

Even if Walmart did think it was the same situation, they'd still be skirting the law by purchasing unlicensed goods.

The definition of "authenticity" in fashion is an interesting one mostly based on maintaining an artificial exclusivity which pushes the percieved value of the product up in the marketplace.

Overextend the brand or get knocked off to much and the brand suffers - Burberry in the UK, Hilfiger in the US, etc. hence why the fashion world places such an emphasis that the item "must be authentic".

/ Some high-end brands are worth the money due to the hours of hand-work, rare materials, construction expertise, etc
// Most are just a label slapped onto the same crap you'll find off-brand for a fifth of the price

Cold_Sassy: I'm willing to bet 98% guys don't know that your bazillion dollar purse is special

I've never heard a (straight) guy say to a woman, "Hey nice handbag". I've heard it countless times from women, don't women buy that kind of stuff to impress other women?

"Back in the day", WalMart also sold "Calvin Klein" jeans. I'm sure they were fake too, even though I never bought them there.

/get off my damn lawn!