It's an international trial.
In more than one way.
First, because several of its main protagonists - Covid obliges - have worn themselves pale.
They are in China or Australia, and could be heard by videoconference.
Above all, this small thirty defendants appeared, this Monday and until December 10, for having set up a sector of counterfeit Hermès bags whose globalization had nothing to envy that of the "parent company."
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These bags, essentially Birkin, the most luxurious model of the famous French saddler, had the distinction of being at least as real as the originals.
And for good reason: from 2008 to 2012, depending on the period chosen by the courts, they were made by workers or ex-workers of Hermès, with skins provided in secret by one of its subsidiaries, and thanks to Hermès subcontractors who rounded off their end of the month by working with these real-false artisans.
In the courtroom in Paris, one of the largest and until then dedicated to the Charlie Hebdo trial, men and women of all ages are aligned.
Among the most involved, only Daniel K., the financier behind the sector, is present.
The others are little hands, responsible for cutting the skins, prosecuted for having taken the tools essential to the design of the bags out of the Hermès workshops, or for having worked on the logistics of this clandestine clone of the flagship of luxury crafts.
PODCAST. PODCAST. Fake "Birkin" bags: the incredible company of exes from Hermès
From the abuse of social good to counterfeiting through the association of criminals, it took the president half an hour to list the list of heads of prosecution for each of the defendants.
This being said, the court then considered a battery of priority questions of constitutionality (QPC).
The most crucial: is there any counterfeiting with regard to the difficulties in drawing the outlines of what an original work is, in this case the Birkin bag, created in 1984 by Hermès.
18 million Birkin sold
In support of his demonstration, Me Alexandre Lazarègue, lawyer for Romain CR, who set up the sector for its operational part, holds up the photos of two models of bags, apparently identical: a Birkin, and an older model. d'Hermès, now copyright free.
For the lawyer, claiming copyright protection for “such a fuzzy work” is in contradiction with free competition.
Arguments swept aside by the lawyers of Hermès, who see in this approach only "a smokescreen".
The court will decide the issue on Tuesday when the hearing resumes.
In the event of a negative answer, the discussions will continue on the substance.
And it is therefore Daniel K., the first, who will be questioned.
A specialist in import-export, this entrepreneur from Asnières (Hauts-de-Seine) supplied the crocodile skins he went to collect in Italy.
At his home - a villa estimated at 1.3 million euros - had been found for 350,000 euros of luxury items, including watches of great value.
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He, assured in police custody, that he had done nothing but graft "on an existing system.
A system which had managed, mainly in China and Russia, to sell at least 18 million Birkins, sold tens of thousands of euros each.
When a suspicious buyer had one examined in a store of the brand, the specialists of Hermès had seen nothing but fire, reassuring him that it was an original model in the making. perfect.
Our story in 5 episodes of an extraordinary investigation
1. The illegal small business of a former Hermès "cutter"
2. Zizou, Bébert and N2, the true-false pros
3. Subcontractors who are not very careful
4. The pink crocodile skins came from Milan
5. Beluga, the oligarchs and the Chinese woman
