Amazon intel leads to seizure of more than 240,000 counterfeit goods in China

If we needed any more proof that Amazon is committed to tackling the multi-billion dollar trade in counterfeit products worldwide, their recent work with Chinese authorities is just that. 

Intelligence provided by the Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit (CCU) has lead to the seizure of 240,000 counterfeit goods in the Chinese provinces of Guangdong and Jiangxi.  Amazon has confirmed that the seizure included over 130,000 counterfeit car accessories infringing the IP rights of brands including BMW, Porsche and General Motors, as well as around 80,000 counterfeit luxury products. The seizure also included over 30,000 items of counterfeit clothing and fake brand labels that infringed IP owned by brands such as Hugo Boss, Puma, Lacoste and Under Armour. 

Amazon has confirmed that this seizure has helped to disrupt 3 counterfeiting operations in China - certainly a great success.

This follows hot on the heels of the behind-the-scenes video released by Amazon last month, which followed a joint operation by U.S. Homeland Security Investigations and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department based on intelligence provided by Amazon. This operation resulted in the seizure of 10,000 counterfeit vehicle grilles, estimated to be worth around $1.2 million. 

Amazon has consistently shown that working directly with with brand owners (through the filing of joint lawsuits), as well as with local authorities to carry out joint seizure operations, is highly effective in the fight against counterfeiters. The trade in counterfeit goods affects not only Amazon's direct customers - it also affects brand owners and other entities throughout the supply chain. It is also the case that counterfeiting is often linked to organised crime groups and other illicit activity such as money-laundering and drug-trafficking. 

It is encouraging to see such effective collaboration between Amazon, brand owners and law enforcement to tackle the threats posed by counterfeiters. Whilst Amazon's online brand protection tools are a great resource for brand owners to tackle infringing products on the platform directly, joint actions with brand owners and local authorities disrupt the counterfeit supply chain and help to prevent hundreds of thousands of infringing products from ever reaching Amazon's online platforms.