Copycats abound when the pros introduce their brilliant ideas to the world. This time one of these pros, however, is fighting back. Luxury French fashion house Chloé is taking Kookai to court over a bag it alleges the high street chain has copied and sold for a fraction of the price. Chloé has served a writ claiming that Kookai's "Whip Stitch Pocket Bag", which retails for £35 is a copy of its extremely popular snakeskin Silverado bag, which carries a price tag of a whopping £1,086.

The Silverado has been a hit from the get-go. All 6,000 python bags were sold out within weeks of hitting the shop floors last fall. Celebrities like Sienna Miller were seen sporting the bag, only adding fuel to the fire and creating a real demand for a cheaper version on the high street. President and managing director of Chloé said in an interview: " What is our industry about? It's about inventing and innovation and we cannot afford to have people stealing our innovation. Ethically, it's unacceptable. And it has clear commercial damages."

The company is being assisted by intellectual property experts at parent company, Compagnie Financiere Richemont. Chloé is also said to be seeking an injunction to precent further sale of the Kookai bag. Chloé has been repeatedly copied in the past year. Its green chiffon goddess dress of last summer was copied by a large number of retailers. The label is not alone in its predicament. Everyone from Gucci to Prada to Balenciaga is being copied by cheap imitators, yet the burden of proof is on the plaintiff and the proof is hard to come by.

Paris-based Kookai, which is owned by retail conglomerate Vivarte and operates around 460 stores in 40 countries, could not be reached for comment. Meanwhile, Chloé continues to sell new versions of the Silverado bag and market it aggressively with new ad campaigns. After all, Toledano says that handbags account for about 50 percent of Chloé's sales.