A consumer walks by an American Eagle retailer on November 21, 2023 in Glendale, California.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Photos
American Eagle Outfitters is suing Amazon for trademark infringement, alleging the e-commerce large used branding from its Aerie clothes line in search outcomes, main shoppers to “inferior quality knock-offs.”
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, American Eagle accused Amazon of “flagrant, unauthorized use” of the Aerie and Offline by Aerie logos on its web site to deceive consumers into believing the merchandise have been accessible on Amazon, drive visitors to its platform and promote competing merchandise. The criticism was filed in U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of New York.
American Eagle stated it did not authorize Amazon to promote merchandise from its Aerie line of yoga pants, lingerie, loungewear and different apparel, including that it “intentionally declined so Aerie can foster its own brand identity and customer experience.” American Eagle, based in 1977, launched the Aerie model in 2006.
A consumer trying to find Aerie merchandise on Google will see sponsored and natural hyperlinks to Amazon’s web site, the lawsuit says. Clicking on a hyperlink results in an Amazon webpage that “displays only knock-offs and ‘dupes'” of Aerie merchandise, together with sweatshirts and train shorts, American Eagle alleges. The corporate stated it notified Amazon “over a month ago” of the infringing merchandise, however says they have been relabeled with misspellings of its Aerie logos, together with “Aeries,” “Arie” or “Aries.”
“These ads are intended to (and do) trick customers into thinking that by clicking the provided link, they will be able to ‘Shop Aerie’ or ‘Save on Offline by Aerie’ on the ‘Official Amazon Site,'” the criticism states. “These statements are patently false because customers cannot shop for Aerie products on Amazon.”
Most of the alleged Aerie knock-offs referenced within the lawsuit are bought by third-party sellers on Amazon’s on-line market. Launched in 2000, {the marketplace} permits companies to hawk their items on the corporate’s web site. It is amassed tens of millions of sellers, and accounts for greater than half of all items bought on the location.
Amazon has confronted related complaints for years. In 2016, shoemaker Birkenstock introduced it will pull its merchandise from Amazon in response to a surge in counterfeits. That yr, German automaker Daimler AG sued Amazon after it found knock-off variations of Mercedes-Benz wheels bought by a third-party vendor.
In 2019, Amazon added a line to the “risk factors” part of its annual monetary submitting warning buyers of the rising menace of third-party sellers peddling counterfeits. Since then, the corporate has stepped up its efforts to police counterfeits on its web site, launching a workforce that pursues legal motion towards counterfeiters, submitting lawsuits and rolling out instruments to assist manufacturers shield their logos.
Amazon representatives did not instantly reply to a request for remark. The corporate has beforehand stated it prohibits the sale of counterfeits on its web site.
American Eagle is searching for an injunction and monetary damages primarily based on Amazon’s alleged trademark infringement.
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