Amazon is offering its “Project Zero” anti-counterfeiting program in seven other countries, expanding a program designed for brands to fight fake products, amid increased monitoring of imitations on its e-commerce platform.
Project Zero will now be available to distributors at Amazon online retail outlets in Australia, Brazil, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, bringing the total to 17 countries, the company announced Monday night. Launched last year, the program is now available in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Japan, India, Mexico and Canada.
Amazon says more than 10,000 brands, ranging from small businesses to large global retailers, have enrolled in the program, which responds to Amazon’s stated purpose of 0 fakes on its platform. The company cited the examples of Arduino, BMW, ChessCentral, LifeProof, OtterBox, Salvatore Ferragamo and Veet as participants.
Falsify one of the most sensible things that lawmakers addressed Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos at an antitrust hearing in Congress with other more sensitive technology CEOs.
“Amazon said it’s solving its counterfeiting problem, but counterfeiting is getting worse, not getting better,” U.S. Representative Hank Johnson, a Georgia Democrat, said by asking Bezos why Amazon isn’t doing more to fight counterfeiting.
He added: “Amazon acts as if it were guilty of counterfeits sold through third-party distributors on its platform, and we have heard that Amazon puts the load and charge on homeowners with logos to monitor the Amazon site, even if Amazon makes cash when it comes to a counterfeit the product is sold on its site.”
In response, Bezos described the company’s fight against counterfeiting and challenged the concept that counterfeits are ultimately an advantage for Amazon.
I think this is an incredibly vital factor and we’re running a lot. Counterfeiting is a scourge,” he said. It doesn’t help us win customer acceptance. It’s bad for customers. It’s bad for fair outside sellers. We do a lot to keep him from counterfeiting. We have a team of over a thousand people doing this. We invest millions of dollars in systems that do that. »
For example, Bezos talked about Project Zero and said it is “helping brands serialize individual products, which is helping to combat counterfeiting.”
This is a reference to one of the 3 main parts of Project Zero, where brands apply a unique code on the packaging or product to allow Amazon to verify the authenticity of each product. Project Zero also includes self-service teams that allow brands to remove classified ads from Amazon.com and generation that automatically identifies suspicious classified ads.
“Amazon is committed to protecting its consumers and the logos we paint around the world,” Dharmesh Mehta, Vice President of Amazon, Worldwide Customer Trust and Partner Support, said in the press release that delivers the expansion Monday night. “Project Zero has been a step forward in protecting logos, especially for those who use its 3 components.”
At the hearing, Representative Johnson cited the previous testimony of David Barnett, the CEO of PopSockets-branded phone owners, who had stated at an earlier hearing that Amazon had indexed counterfeit versions of the product before the original versions and had completed the practice until later. PopSockets was engaged. spend $2 million on advertising.
“This is unacceptable,” Bezos said, promising to take a look at the main points of the PopSockets allegations, which won an extensive policy this year. “If those are the facts, and if someone somewhere on Amazon says, “Buy X dollars in ads, and we’ll help you with your counterfeiting problem, ” that’s unacceptable.”
Even if Amazon makes short-term cash from counterfeit goods, it’s not in its most productive interest to allow counterfeit goods, Bezos said. “I’d lose a lot of a sale than a customer,” he said.
As Bezos noted at the hearing, the company announced the formation of a “Counterfeit Crimes Unit” earlier this year from its initiatives.
Amazon has also filed a number of lawsuits for counterfeit goods in recent years, and recently joined the Italian luxury fashion logo Valentino to sue a suspected forger for the company’s Rockstud shoes. Amazon has filed lawsuits in the afterlife in partnership with corporations such as Nite Ize, a manufacturer of cell phone accessories and LED products; Vera Bradley, designer of handbags and accessories; and the OtterBox corporate high-end phone box.
The company attempted to evade legal liability for counterfeit products sold on its platform. In what has an old case, Amazon was sued in 2013 through Seattle-based luxury pillowcase manufacturer Milo and Gabthrough for imitations sold through other corporations in Amazon.com. The courts agreed with Amazon’s argument that counterfeit traders deserved to be held accountable.
GeekWire this week is subscribed through FlowPlay
We’d probably be stuck at home, but laughter doesn’t go away. Poker night returns with live game night. The video stream captures each and every moment, making it as if you are assembling at home. Challenge up to nine friends in tournaments or play on your PC or mobile device. Live Poker, Virtual Betting, Pizza, Beer: Play Friday nights or make Monday morning assemblies more competitive.
Get your poker face ready to play now on PC or mobile!
Capture all titles in your inbox