How to Avoid Liability for Retail Tenant's Sale of Counterfeit Goods

We’ll give you seven lease protections against liability for “contributory infringement.”

Big fashion houses and producers of luxury goods have found a new and effective way to combat counterfeiting: Rather than chase after the small-potatoes vendors that sell counterfeit goods, sue the deep-pocket landlord of the property where the sales occur. And even if landlords had no direct involvement in the illicit sales, they could end up paying millions of dollars in damages for what’s called “contributory infringement.”