A consumer walks previous an American Eagle retailer on November 21, 2023 in Glendale, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Pictures
American Eagle Outfitters litigate Amazon for trademark infringement, alleging that the e-commerce large used branding from its Aerie clothes line in search outcomes, main customers to “pretend, lower-quality copies.”
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, American Eagle accused Amazon of “blatant, unauthorized use” of the Aerie and Offline by Aerie logos on its web site to mislead consumers into believing the merchandise had been out there on Amazon, drive site visitors to its platform and promote competing items. The criticism was filed within the US District Court docket for the Southern District of New York.
American Eagle mentioned it didn’t authorize Amazon to promote merchandise from its Aerie line of yoga pants, underwear, daywear and different attire, including that it “intentionally declined so Aerie may promote its personal model identification and shopper expertise “. American Eagle, based in 1977, launched the Aerie model in 2006.
A purchaser searching for Aerie merchandise on Google you may see sponsored and natural hyperlinks to Amazon’s web site, the lawsuit says. Clicking on a hyperlink results in an Amazon internet web page that “reveals solely copies and ‘holes'” of Aerie merchandise, together with sweatshirts and train shorts, American Eagle claims. The corporate mentioned it notified Amazon “greater than a month in the past” concerning the infringing merchandise, however says they had been relabeled with misspellings of its Aerie logos, together with “Aeries,” “Arie,” or “Aries.” .
“These advertisements are meant (and certainly are) to trick clients into pondering that by clicking on the hyperlink supplied, they are going to be capable to ‘Store Aerie’ or ‘Save Offline at Aerie’ on the ‘Official Amazon Website,'” the criticism states . “These claims are obviously false as a result of clients can not store for Aerie merchandise on Amazon.”
Lots of the alleged Aerie copies named within the lawsuit are being offered by third-party sellers on Amazon’s on-line market. Launched in 2000, {the marketplace} permits companies to promote their items on the corporate’s web site. It has amassed hundreds of thousands of sellers and accounts for greater than half of all items offered on the positioning.
Amazon has confronted related complaints for years. In 2016, the shoemaker Birkenstock announced will pull its merchandise from Amazon in response to the rise of counterfeits. In the identical yr, the German automotive producer Daimler AG sued Amazon after discovering pretend variations of Mercedes-Benz wheels being offered by a third-party vendor.
In 2019, Amazon added line to the “danger elements” part of its annual monetary assertion warning traders concerning the rising menace of third-party sellers promoting counterfeits. Since then, the corporate has stepped up its efforts to manage fakes on its web site, starting a team which prosecutes counterfeiters, filing lawsuits and introducing instruments to assist manufacturers shield their logos.
Amazon representatives didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark. The corporate said earlier he prohibits the sale of counterfeits on his web site.
American Eagle is looking for injunctive aid and monetary damages primarily based on Amazon’s alleged trademark infringement.
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