Amazon and Canon launch joint fake goods lawsuit
Joint lawsuit is latest in a string as Amazon steps up efforts over fakes | E-commerce giant has been criticised over its failure to tackle counterfeits by Louboutin and Bikenstock in the past.
Amazon has joined forces with Canon to file a US lawsuit against alleged counterfeiters who tried to sell fake camera batteries and chargers through the online marketplace
The development marked the e-commerce giant’s latest move to tackle the problem of infringing goods in its listings.
The lawsuit, announced today (May 11), was filed at the US District Court for the Western District of Washington by Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit (CCU) and Canon.
It accused the defendant of operating 29 Amazon accounts selling products that infringed Canon’s registered trademarks, which were shut down once Canon had confirmed the products were counterfeits.
While Amazon says that instances of counterfeits entering its store are “rare”, the e-commerce giant has stepped up its efforts to tackle the problem in recent years, with its CCU suing or referring for investigation more than 1,300 criminals in the US, UK, EU and China in the past year.
Its team has seized and disposed of over six million counterfeit products.
Increased concern
Back in 2019, Amazon warned investors about the risk of counterfeit goods in its annual report, following accusations by US-based mobile phone accessory company Elevation Lab that it was complicit in counterfeiting.
The CEO of Birkenstock, Oliver Reichert, also hit out at Amazon for failing to crack down on counterfeit goods, telling AFP in 2017 that Amazon “makes money with these fakes”.
Louboutin stepped up its own dispute with the online retailer by seeking injunctions against Amazon in 2019 in Belgian and Luxembourg courts, alleging Amazon displayed adverts for counterfeit Louboutin shoes.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) said in a preliminary ruling in December last year that Amazon could be considered responsible for IP breaches, and that it was now up to the national courts to decide whether this was the case.
“Drive counterfeits to zero”
Amazon has always maintained that it heavily invests in anti-counterfeiting measures, and in 2019 launched ‘Project Zero’, a programme it claims “empowers brands to drive counterfeits to zero”.
More than 22,000 brands are enrolled in the scheme, including Canon, which involves automated protections driven by Amazon’s machine learning technology that scan the listings looking for and removing suspected counterfeits.
Amazon has also filed lawsuits against alleged counterfeiters by teaming up with Cartier, World Wrestling Entertainment, General Electric and GE Appliances.
Kebharu Smith, director of Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit, said: “To protect our customers and the authenticity of products in our store we help hold counterfeiters accountable through the courts.”
Did you enjoy reading this story? Sign up to our free daily newsletters and get stories sent like this straight to your inbox
Today’s top stories
