The rising tide of counterfeit products online has brought two major forces together as GoPro and Amazon announced a joint lawsuit against fake products pouring in from abroad.
Specifically, the lawsuit names Chinese firms allegedly engaged in counterfeit product sales on Amazon. The products in question, naturally, are GoPro accessories like the company’s vaunted grips, Engadget reports.
As the lawsuit details, selling counterfeit products defrauds consumers and hurts the intellectual property of the company being ripped off. Further, some counterfeit products actually pose a danger to authentic gear and could damage – especially some of the more complex electronic equipment out there.
And it isn’t like this issue is just impacting GoPro products on Amazon as Engadget notes Apple’s 2016 issue with Amazon that “…alleged that about 90 percent of the Lightning cables and chargers marked “Fulfilled by Amazon” were fake.”
Even though it is a part of this lawsuit with GoPro, Amazon maintains that counterfeit products aren’t a major problem on its platform. Nonetheless, the company formed a Counterfeit Crimes Unit to handle such cases moving forward.
Amazon VP for Customer Trust and Partner Support Dharmesh Mehta said of the Counterfeit Crimes Unit’s formation:
“Every counterfeiter is on notice that they will be held accountable to the maximum extent possible under the law, regardless of where they attempt to sell their counterfeits or where they’re located. We are working hard to disrupt and dismantle these criminal networks, and we applaud the law enforcement authorities who are already part of this fight. We urge governments to give these authorities the investigative tools, funding, and resources they need to bring criminal counterfeiters to justice because criminal enforcement – through prosecution and other disruption measures such as freezing assets – is one of the most effective ways to stop them.”
Have you ever purchased a counterfeit product thinking you were getting official stuff? How did you resolve that issue with the vendor? Let us know your thoughts on counterfeit products in online stores in the comments below.
Check out some of our other photography news on Light Stalking at this link right here.
[Engadget]
