MILAN (Reuters Life!) – Versace won a record compensation of $20 million in a counterfeit case against US retail stores, the Italian fashion house said yesterday.

The medusa-logoed company, whose glittering gowns are worn by film stars such as Drew Barrymore and Penelope Cruz, said the damages awarded by a US court were one of the highest ever obtained by an Italian company in a case brought abroad to protect trademark.

Versace had revenues of €268 million($359.6 million) in 2009. The ruling is immediately executable, the company said.

"We have won a historic judgement, reached at the culmination of the anti-counterfeiting action undertaken by the Group and whose effects will benefit all the luxury Italian brands," Versace's Chief Executive Gian Giacomo Ferraris said in a statement.

Santo Versace, brother of company's founder Gianni who was murdered in 1997, appeared as a key witness in the case.

More than 70 retail stores in Southern California and Arizona and over 110 people were investigated during the case.