Posts Tagged: "Counterfeited Goods"

Williams-Sonoma Lawsuit Accuses Amazon of Offering Infringing Products for Sale Online

On Friday, December 14th, San Francisco, CA-based home furnishing retailer Williams-Sonoma filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of California alleging claims of trademark and design patent infringement against Seattle, WA-based e-commerce giant Amazon.com. The lawsuit targets Amazon’s pattern of trading upon Williams-Sonoma’s goodwill and infringing the company’s intellectual property including the use of the registered mark “WILLIAMS-SONOMA.” If the allegations are true, this is simply the latest instance of this e-commerce behemoth choosing to flout IP law in an effort to line the pockets of itself and its incredibly affluent CEO Jeff Bezos.

Dangerous Counterfeits Becoming More Difficult to Avoid

While many holiday shoppers may think that they’re getting a bargain by purchasing goods displaying a particular brand without having to pay brand prices, these shoppers are unwittingly gifting low-quality items or worse, products that pose health hazards, to their friends or loved ones. Thanks in large part to the Internet, counterfeiting operations have reached epidemic levels in recent years. Nearly half of all brand owners are losing revenues because of the sale of counterfeits and, in 2017, U.S. customs agencies seized a total of 34,143 shipments carrying counterfeited goods being imported into the U.S. But counterfeiting is a victimless crime, the common refrain goes. Nothing could be further from the truth. Terrorist organizations and organized crime families are turning to counterfeiting as a meaningful source of income given the exceptionally low penalties even if they are caught and extraordinarily high profit margins — profit margins that are even higher than selling drugs on the street. 

Counterfeiters to target Millennial shoppers on Black Friday: How can brands fight back?

Black Friday is one of the most important retail events of the year for brands and consumers alike. This sales event is particularly tempting for price-centric Millennials whose diverse buying habits put them at increased risk of falling for fakes. Representing one of the biggest Black Friday consumer segments, they are particularly vulnerable to counterfeiters. Last year alone, our data show that an estimated $482 million were lost on Black Friday from Millennials who unwittingly bought fakes online.

Inviting Danger into the Home: Understanding the Market for Counterfeit Baby Products and How Both Parents and Brands Can Better Protect Children

How should new parents avoid putting their young children in unnecessary harm and avoid counterfeit baby products? Caregivers should purchase directly from the brand, either through its website or its authorized retailers.  Most brands – including UPPABaby and ErgoBaby – provide customers with online tools to identify authorized retailers… Second, if shopping on an online marketplace, pay close attention to the listed price.  It’s tempting to seek out a bargain while faced with the mountain of costs associated with parenthood, but prices that are significantly outside of the manufacturer’s suggested retail price should be viewed with suspicion.

Brand counterfeiting is starting to reach epidemic levels

The rate of digital transformation within the business world is unstoppable. Of course, transformation of this kind can deliver numerous benefits, but it is also leading to an increase in illicit counterfeit activity. Almost half (47%) of all brands are losing revenue due to counterfeiting while four out often organizations have experienced an increase in the occurrence of counterfeiting and brand infringement. This has, more often than not, originated from a variety of components related to digital transformation on a global scale, including but not being limited to: advances in social media (61%); chat/messaging (52%); artificial intelligence (51%); the dark web (48%), and augmented reality (47%).