Last June, Amazon created a division to combat the sale of counterfeit goods on its platform. Today, the company announced its first action against counterfeit vendors. Amazon and GoPro sued seven Chinese citizens and a pair of companies for distributing hard-to-distinguish counterfeit camera pens and tripod tripods bearing the GoPro logo.
While the lawsuit doesn’t say how many people purchased the fake accessories, the number is high, and they are all disappointed. One customer wrote that he was very unhappy after receiving a fake under the guise of an original GoPro accessory and will never buy products from the brand again. Some buyers of counterfeit accessories immediately noted their disgusting quality. According to one of the dissatisfied customers, the tripod he bought was rusty after two days.
In general, the differences between the original and fake accessories are hard to see at first glance. Fake tripods may weigh a little less, have a rougher surface, a smaller button, or other subtle differences. Without a direct comparison with the original, it’s difficult to spot a fake.
Amazon said it has blocked all accounts of sellers selling counterfeit products and sent samples of the items they sell to GoPro to help investigate. In addition, a parallel criminal investigation is underway in China against the same sellers.
While this is the first lawsuit filed directly by Amazon’s specially formed division, it is not the first lawsuit the company has filed against counterfeit sellers. In 2016, Apple claimed that 90 percent of chargers sold under its brand on Amazon were counterfeit. Overall, the platform is flooded with counterfeit goods, but it’s encouraging to know that Amazon is working hard to change that.
