Amazon and Salvatore Ferragamo have filed two joint counterfeit lawsuits. Four individuals and three entities attempted to offer the infringing Ferragamo products in Amazon’s store. According to Amazon, this violates Amazon’s policies, Ferragamo’s intellectual property rights, and the law.
Amazon prohibit counterfeiters being sold on their platform and work continuously to ensure consumers are getting the real deal. In 2019 they invested $500 million to protect customers and brands from fraud and abuse and investments into reducing knock off products include robust seller vetting, advanced machine-learning based technologies, and industry-leading brand protection tools like Project Zero, Brand Registry, and Transparency.
“We do not allow counterfeit products in our store, and we have made it crystal clear that we take aggressive action to hold accountable bad actors who attempt to evade our proactive protections, Through our Counterfeit Crimes Unit, we are working closely with luxury and cosmetics brands, small businesses, and brands with global name recognition. We will continue to fight to protect intellectual property from small family-owned businesses through Fortune 500 companies.”
– Dharmesh Mehta, Vice President, Customer Trust and Partner Support, Amazon
Fraudulent items on marketplaces can be damaging not only to buyers who end up with unsafe products but also to legitimate sellers who lose business from the lure of what buyers think are safe items during a time when they are vulnerable and impulse buying. Victims lose trust in marketplaces and begin to label all sellers under the same category despite most providing completely legitimate services. With more people opting for online marketplaces in the pandemic the ability to quickly find and file counterfeit lawsuits, that in some cases endanger consumers is hugely important.
