Both Amazon and Cartier allege that the defendants infringed on the luxury jeweler’s registered trademarks and violated the tech giant’s marketplace policies by conspiring to sell counterfeit products, engaging in false advertising, and trying to circumvent Amazon’s anti-counterfeiting detection tools.
“By using social media to promote counterfeit products, bad actors undermine trust and mislead customers,” said Kebharu Smith, associate general counsel and director of the Amazon Counterfeit Crimes Unit (CCU).
“Amazon will keep investing and innovating to stay ahead of counterfeiters and working with brands and law enforcement to hold bad actors accountable. We don’t just want to chase them away from Amazon—we want to stop them for good.”
Photos of the fake Cartier jewelry were reportedly openly posted along with a description of the infringing product on Instagram. But when it came to Amazon and other external websites, generic product detail pages were created and featured no indication of infringement.
The defendants then told customers if they purchased the generic item, they would receive a counterfeit Cartier product. Defendants then provided customers with a link to the generic product on Amazon or other websites.
One of the fakes mentioned in the suit was the Cartier LOVE bracelet, which was listed on Amazon as the “Women’s Fashion Classic Screw Love Titanium Steel Bracelet.” However, the listing did not mention Cartier, and any images featured concealed the screw motif of Cartier’s authentic LOVE bracelet.
On Instagram, the product was noted as a clear advertisement of a counterfeit as it featured images bearing the Cartier name and screw motif. After the customer made their purchase through the generic product listing, the fake Cartier LOVE bracelet bearing the Cartier trademark was then shipped to the customer.
According to Amazon and Cartier, this was a process that was repeated over and over.
Both lawsuits were filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington.
