A case involving the sale of counterfeit goods on Amazon could have repercussions in the fashion industry.

 

Last month, a notable case came to a resolution — one that had nothing to do with fashion or luxury products, but could have significant ramifications for the sector because it challenged Amazon's ability to avoid accountability for goods sold on its vast third-party marketplace. Maglula Ltd. stated in a filing in December that it had settled a case it had filed against Amazon in 2019 alleging infringement and counterfeiting in connection with the sale of "cheap" counterfeit Maglula-branded handgun magazine loaders and unloaders on its platform.

    Maglula claimed in its complaint that Amazon was selling counterfeits and products infringing on its copyrights and patents, and that despite its "extensive and repeated requests" over a three-year period, Amazon failed to take reasonable steps to prevent or remedy the infringement, prompting Maglula to file suit against the Jeff Bezos-founded company.

            Apart from struggling to have Amazon remove the allegedly infringing products (some of which listed "Amazon Warehouse" as the seller and all of which were "Fulfilled by Amazon"), Maglula claimed that the contact information Amazon provided for the third-party sellers at issue was largely "nonfunctional," with at least some of the information being incorrectly linked to individuals who "were victims of documented identity theft." Finally, Maglula said that Amazon made it "difficult" to take third-party sellers to court and uncover the sources of the knock-offs.

And, in an attempt to undermine Amazon's long-standing (and largely successful) argument that it is not the "seller" of the products that appear on its marketplace and thus is immune from liability, Maglula claimed that Amazon is more than a mere middleman, as it "controls all aspects of the sales process with its partners," has the exclusive right to "suspend, prohibit, or remove product listings," and receives "all proceeds from all of [the] sales on its marketplace."