On November 21, 2023, a shopper walked through an American Eagle store in Glendale, California.
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American Eagle Outfitters Prosecuting Amazon The trademark infringement alleges that the e-commerce giant used the brand name of its Aerie clothing line in search results, causing consumers to discover “low-quality counterfeit goods.”
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, American Eagle accuses Amazon of “blatant and unauthorized use” of the Aerie and Offline by Aerie trademarks on its website to deceive shoppers into believing the products are for sale on Amazon and drive traffic to its platform. and sell competing merchandise. The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
American Eagle said it did not authorize Amazon to sell Aerie’s line of yoga pants, underwear, loungewear and other apparel, adding that it “intentionally declined so that Aerie could cultivate its own brand image and customer experience.” American Eagle was founded in 1977 In 2006, the Aerie brand was launched.
A shopper searches for Aerie products on Google Sponsored and organic links to Amazon.com will be seen, the lawsuit says. American Eagle claims that clicking on the link will take you to an Amazon page that “only displays counterfeit and ‘knock-off’ items of Aerie products,” including sweatshirts and athletic shorts. The company said it sent notices to Amazon “more than a month ago” about the infringing products, but said the products were rebranded with misspellings of the Aerie trademark, including “Aeries,” “Arie” or “Aries.”
“These ads are designed to (and do) deceive customers into thinking that by clicking on the links provided, they will be able to ‘Buy Aerie’ on ‘Official Amazon Website’ or ‘Save Offline with Aerie,'” the complaint states. “These statements are patently false because customers cannot purchase Aerie products on Amazon.”
Many of the alleged Aerie counterfeits cited in the lawsuit were sold by third-party sellers on Amazon’s online marketplace. Launched in 2000, the marketplace allows businesses to hawk their wares on company websites. It aggregates millions of sellers, accounting for more than half of all items sold on the site.
Amazon has faced similar complaints for years. In 2016, shoe manufacturer Birkenstock announced that it would remove products from Amazon in response to a surge in counterfeit goods. That year, German carmaker Daimler AG sued Amazon discovered counterfeit Mercedes-Benz wheels being sold by a third-party seller.
In 2019, Amazon added a line to the “Risk Factors” section of its annual financial report warning investors of the growing threat of third-party sellers peddling counterfeit goods. Since then, the company has stepped up efforts to combat counterfeiting on its website, establishing a team to take criminal action against counterfeiters, bringing prosecutions and rolling out tools to help brands protect their trademarks.
An Amazon representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment. company Already said before It prohibits the sale of counterfeit products on its website.
American Eagle is seeking an injunction and monetary damages against Amazon for alleged trademark infringement.
watch: How the U.S. Government and Amazon Are Combating Chinese Counterfeit Products
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