Back in March of 2020, the US House of Representatives put forward a bill to fight fake products. Specifically, it would make e-commerce companies such as Amazon legally liable for counterfeits sold on its platform. The name of the bill is the Shop Safe Act.
As a result, Amazon is stepping up the battle against counterfeits. The retail giant has created a new team that will investigate fakes. Additionally, this team will pursue criminal charges or lawsuits against companies.
The new team is the Counterfeit Crimes Unit.
“Consumer lives are at risk because of dangerous counterfeit products that are flooding the online marketplace,” said Georgia Republican Congressman Doug Collins. “Congress must create accountability to prevent these hazardous items from infiltrating the homes of millions of Americans.”
Counterfeits are a form of intellectual property theft. It involves, for example, the manufacturing of products to imitate others. It is fraud and theft since the consumer is not acquiring the same quality and brand that he is seeking.
Without doubt, this is especially important with pharmaceutical products.
The Importance of Intellectual Property Protection
Some countries have lax supervision. This vacuum allows intellectual property violations.
Most of the developed countries have robust systems to protect intellectual property products. Increasingly, countries are clamping down on manufacturers, distributors, and sellers of fakes.
Amazon is making now a priority to keep off counterfeits from its site by using tools such as machine learning. These tools dentify and remove suspected fakes and verify new sellers.
Additionally, Amazon has been suing counterfeiters in court and working with companies whose intellectual property has been infringed.
Amazon states that this Counterfeits Crime Unit is made up of former federal prosecutors, investigators, and data analysts.
The real challenge for the e-commerce giant is to control third-party sellers which collectively sell more products on Amazon.
Since Intellectual Property assets account for 38.2% of the total GDP of the U.S., expect more and stronger actions protecting Intellectual Property assets.
Marcos E. Garciaacota is a business and trademark attorney. He serves a wide array of businesses and individuals in the USA and globally.
Call us for a consultation at (480) 324-6378.