Amazon and BWW jointly successfully sued the European Trademark Court in Alicante, Spain, against the trade in counterfeit BMW products. The court has convicted four Spanish residents of attempting to sell the carmaker’s counterfeit parts and accessories across Europe on Amazon, the companies said in a joint statement on Thursday.
The fraudsters are therefore no longer allowed to offer the counterfeit products, must destroy them and pay compensation to the claimants. It is the first success of this kind in court in Spain achieved by Amazon and BMW’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit (CCU).
The fraudsters convicted in the civil case broke the law, violated Amazon policies and disrespected the BMW Group’s registered trademarks by attempting to sell counterfeit products such as valve caps, decals and key fobs. They even submitted false certificates of origin.
Amazon discovered the suspicious activity using advanced machine learning technologies and worked with BMW to confirm that the products in question were counterfeit. Amazon then blocked the defendant’s sales accounts, removed the offers related to the case and, on its own initiative, compensated the affected customers.
Billions lost due to brand piracy
Figures from the EU Intellectual Property Agency (EUIPO/Alicante) from January show how serious the economic consequences of product piracy are. According to this study, European manufacturers of clothing, cosmetics and toys lose an annual turnover of around 16 billion euros due to counterfeit goods. In addition, approximately 200,000 jobs were lost due to such fraud. An important distribution channel for such goods is online trade.
Amazon has assured us that it is taking the issue very seriously. “Amazon has a zero-tolerance policy toward counterfeit products and will lead the fight against counterfeit products wherever they operate,” said Kebharu Smith, head of CCU.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
