FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif., Feb. 17, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- In its ongoing campaign to identify and aggressively pursue violators of its protected designs and trademarks, Oakley, Inc. (NYSE:OO) today highlighted the results of its 2003 anti-counterfeiting efforts.
Working closely with a wide variety of local, national and international law enforcement agencies, Oakley's legal team oversaw the confiscation of 2,739,754 fake Oakley products, primarily sunglasses, worldwide in 2003, with an estimated street value totaling more than $27 million. This represents a 156 percent increase over the 1,071,755 products confiscated the previous year. For the year there were 447 total worldwide arrests of individuals participating in the sale of such fakes, 111 of whom were outside the U.S. This was due in large part to the company's stronger efforts to educate and train law enforcement agencies worldwide resulting in more arrests against counterfeiters in important international markets.
"We take our brand and image very seriously and will look to the ends of the earth to stop the unauthorized use of our name, designs and trademarks," Chief Executive Officer Jim Jannard warned. "Thanks to the effort and cooperation of numerous law enforcement agencies around the world, we have raised the profile of our anti-counterfeit programs. Our products deliver unmatched protection against the harmful UV spectrum and against the risk of traumatic eye injuries caused by projectiles and a wide range of other impact forces. We believe it's a matter of principle and a matter of integrity to protect our loyal customers from dangerous imposters."
Vance Lommen, Oakley's Director of Legal and Security added, "This year was a record year for product confiscations and illegal Internet auction site terminations and is a direct result of the efforts of our team and their close work with law enforcement and global governments. In 2003, we continued our focus on international arrests because most of the illegal manufacturing takes place overseas and these arrests will have the biggest impact on our efforts to curtail the flow of illegal products worldwide."
Oakley's enforcement efforts also succeeded in limiting the illegal sale of products over the Internet. More than 20,000 auctions, including auctions on eBay.com and yahoo.com, were shut down, deleted, or otherwise cleansed of counterfeit Oakley products. Violations included auctions of counterfeit merchandise, auctions showing Oakley's copyrighted images and auctions violating policies involving key word spamming, a practice involving the misuse of the name "Oakley" to draw attention to an auction. Total restitution collected in 2003 was more than $220,000 and will be used to further Oakley's anti-counterfeiting operations in this ongoing battle to protect the Oakley brand.
About Oakley, Inc.
Oakley: a world brand, driven to ignite the imagination through the fusion of art and science. Building on its legacy of innovative, market-leading, premium sunglasses, the company also offers an expanding line of premium performance footwear, apparel, accessories, watches and prescription eyewear to consumers in more than 100 countries. Trailing-12-month revenues through December 31, 2003 totaled $521.5 million and generated net income of $38.2 million. Oakley, Inc. press releases, SEC filings and the company's Annual Report are available at no charge through the company's Web site at www.oakley.com.
Safe Harbor Disclaimer
This press release contains certain statements of a forward-looking nature. Such statements are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The accuracy of such statements may be impacted by a number of business risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or anticipated, including: risks related to the company's ability to manage rapid growth; the ability to identify qualified manufacturing partners; the ability to coordinate product development and production processes with those partners; the ability of those manufacturing partners and the company's internal production operations to increase production volumes on raw materials and finished goods in a timely fashion in response to increasing demand and enable the company to achieve timely delivery of finished goods to its retail customers; the ability to provide adequate fixturing to existing and future retail customers to meet anticipated needs and schedules; the dependence on eyewear sales to Sunglass Hut which is owned by a major competitor and, accordingly, could materially alter or terminate its relationship with the company; the company's ability to expand distribution channels and its own retail operations in a timely manner; unanticipated changes in general market conditions or other factors, which may result in cancellations of advance orders or a reduction in the rate of reorders placed by retailers; continued weakness of economic conditions could continue to reduce or further reduce demand for products sold by the company and could adversely affect profitability, especially of the company's retail operations; further terrorist acts, or the threat thereof, could continue to adversely affect consumer confidence and spending, could interrupt production and distribution of product and raw materials and could, as a result, adversely affect the company's operations and financial performance; the ability of the company to integrate acquisitions without adversely affecting operations; the ability to continue to develop and produce innovative new products and introduce them in a timely manner; the acceptance in the marketplace of the company's new products and changes in consumer preferences; reductions in sales of products, either as the result of economic or other conditions or reduced consumer acceptance of a product, could result in a buildup of inventory; the ability to source raw materials and finished products at favorable prices to the company; the potential effect of periodic power crises on the company's operations including temporary blackouts at the company's facilities; foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations; earthquakes or other natural disasters concentrated in Southern California where substantially all of the companies operations are based; the company's ability to identify and execute successfully cost control initiatives; and other risks outlined in the company's SEC filings, including but not limited to the Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2002 and other filings made periodically by the company. The company undertakes no obligation to update this forward-looking information.