Amazon reported a Yiwu manufacturer for counterfeiting

In order to protect the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, Amazon has always maintained a high-pressure stance of "zero tolerance" and severe crackdowns on counterfeiters and sellers of counterfeit goods. However, there are still many people who take chances and try to "pass the fake off as the real" to gain improper benefits, and ultimately suffer the consequences.

A Yiwu manufacturer was reported by Amazon for counterfeiting

Recently, foreign media reported that Amazon said its Counterfeit Crime Unit (CCU) cooperated with Salvatore Ferragamo to report the counterfeiter to the Market Supervision and Administration Bureau of Yiwu City, Zhejiang Province. The report said that the counterfeiter produced belts with Ferragamo's logo Gancini.

According to the report, after an investigation by the Yiwu Market Supervision Administration and Amazon's counterfeit crime department, the relevant departments raided the counterfeiter's warehouse and confiscated hundreds of counterfeit belts and buckle accessories. Amazon said that if these counterfeit goods were not promptly investigated, they would likely be sold around the world through retail channels. However, Amazon did not disclose the specific details.

Image from BUSINESS WIRE

Amazon and Ferragamo also said they will continue to assist law enforcement agencies in investigating counterfeiters, prevent these counterfeit products from being sold on their platforms, and take measures to stop such illegal sales at the source. Kebharu Smith, head of Amazon's counterfeit crime department, believes that if these counterfeiters' actions are not stopped in time, they are likely to be sold through the Amazon platform.

In fact, this is not the first time Amazon has taken action against counterfeiting. Since the establishment of this department in 2020, Amazon has cracked down on counterfeiting activities many times. In February of this year, Amazon also jointly filed two lawsuits with Ferragamo (Ferragamo is a famous Italian women's shoe brand that mainly produces clothing, bags, accessories, etc.) in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

The lawsuit points out that these counterfeiters used Ferragamo's trademark without authorization, infringing the interests of consumers and brands. According to incomplete statistics, there were more than 22,000 infringing products related to Ferragamo in 2021 alone. In addition, more than 130,000 counterfeit products were identified in time and removed from the market. In addition, there are many cases related to GoPro, HanesBrands, etc.

It is understood that Amazon's global anti-counterfeiting team was established in 2020 to protect platform consumers, brands, sellers and the retail industry. The team members are composed of former federal prosecutors, former law enforcement officers, experienced investigators and data analysts.

The team is mainly responsible for tracking counterfeiters around the world and assisting relevant law enforcement agencies. In 2020, Amazon has provided relevant evidence on more than 250 counterfeiters in many countries and filed civil lawsuits against 64 counterfeiters.

Amazon has always been confident in its supervision of counterfeit products on its platform, and once said that the complaint rate of counterfeit products on the platform was less than 0.01% in 2020. To this end, Amazon has also invested manpower from multiple parties to implement a comprehensive strategy of internal and external cooperation, online and offline. In order to prevent infringement and counterfeit products on its platform, Amazon invested more than US$700 million in 2020 to hire tens of thousands of employees to jointly combat fraud, counterfeiting and abuse.

In fact, the problem of counterfeit goods has always existed in major retail channels. With the continuous development of e-commerce platforms, these criminals have shifted their targets from offline to online. Some major cross-border platforms have become the "hardest hit areas" of counterfeit goods.

E-commerce has contributed to the proliferation of counterfeit goods, with Amazon and Walmart being the hardest hit

Although platforms such as Amazon and Walmart have expressly prohibited infringements, once discovered, sellers will face the risk of having their links removed or their accounts blocked. However, due to the large size of the platforms, they cannot provide comprehensive supervision.

According to the counterfeit report, about 500,000 brands on the Amazon platform are facing infringement issues, involving about 1.3 million products, and more than 823,000 product listings have been deleted. The report also cited several examples.

For example, fraudulent memory cards. These counterfeit products usually have only a small portion of the memory stated in the product description. When connected to the user's mobile phone, camera and other devices, viruses, malware, etc. may be installed, and the user may face data loss.

Amazon prohibits the sale of individual lithium-ion batteries, but according to consumer complaints, this non-compliant and dangerous product still exists on the platform. According to statistics, sales have exceeded 340,000 units, and some products are marked with the "Amazon Choice" label.

The same phenomenon exists on the Walmart platform. The counterfeit report pointed out that Walmart also has major problems in platform supervision and was rated "F" in terms of consumer protection.

According to recent statistics, there are about 12,000 counterfeit products on the platform, and more than 3,000 listings have been deleted under the guidance of brands. It takes an average of six times for a listing to be successfully reported for infringement. After more than 50 listings of infringing sellers have been deleted, they will continue to list dozens of counterfeit products.

Foreign law firms such as GBC often file cases against infringements on e-commerce platforms. Mainstream e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, eBay, and AliExpress are all involved. The defendant sellers either have to pay high settlement fees or face having their accounts frozen.

In order to strengthen the supervision of platforms, the US Senate passed the Consumer Notification Act some time ago, requiring e-commerce platforms such as Amazon to strengthen supervision of sellers on their platforms, such as verifying various information of sellers.

In addition to counterfeit goods found on e-commerce platforms, many counterfeit and shoddy products are seized and confiscated at customs, and there are endless cases reported by customs at home and abroad.

Customs at home and abroad seized a large number of infringing products

According to data released by China Customs, in 2021, the number of batches of infringing imported and exported products seized by customs across the country reached 79,000 times, involving 71.8 million items.

Recently, Dongguan Customs investigated and dealt with another batch of infringing goods, involving a variety of categories. One batch of products was declared as connecting cables, but after unpacking and inspection, it was found that they included Bluetooth headsets, mobile phone packaging boxes, and charging heads, all of which were infringing products. In addition, there were counterfeit brand-name car logos, auto parts, stationery sets, and game cards, with the number of infringing products exceeding 600,000.

Data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection also show that handbags, clothing, shoes and electronic products account for a higher proportion in the process of counterfeit product inspections. These products are usually sold through e-commerce channels and flea markets. More than 83,000 batches of illegal goods were seized in 2021.

According to CBP, the epidemic has driven the boom in the e-commerce market, but on the other hand, it has also led to a large number of low-value, small packages being imported into the United States. Among the reports of seizures of counterfeit products, international mail and express delivery accounted for more than 90%.

Foreign countries pay attention to the protection of intellectual property rights, and severely crack down on infringements both online and offline. Infringements are also a high-frequency problem for cross-border sellers, but making quick money by riding on brand traffic is only a temporary benefit. Focusing on original products and being down-to-earth is the long-term plan.

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Fighting against counterfeiting