Amazon Accused in Suit of Touting American Eagle Knock-Offs

American Eagle Outfitters has reportedly filed a trademark infringement suit against Amazon.

The suit alleges that Amazon used branding from the clothing retailer’s Aerie line of apparel in search results, directing shoppers to “inferior quality knock-offs,” CNBC reported Wednesday (Sept. 25).

The suit accuses the eCommerce giant of “flagrant, unauthorized use” of the Aerie and Offline by Aerie trademarks on its site to trick consumers into thinking the products were available on Amazon, bring traffic to its platform and sell competing products.

American Eagle said it did not permit to sell clothing from the Aerie line, and in fact “intentionally declined so Aerie can foster its own brand identity and customer experience,” according to the report.

However, the lawsuit said, a shopper seeking Aerie products on Google will see sponsored and organic links to Amazon’s site, but once there find only knock-offs. American Eagle said it told Amazon “over a month ago” of the infringing products, and that this merchandise was relabeled with misspellings of its Aerie trademarks (things like”Aeries” and “Aries”).

The report added that many of the alleged Aerie knock-offs mentioned in the suit are sold by third-party merchants on Amazon’s marketplace. PYMNTS has contacted Amazon for comment but has not yet gotten a reply.

The company has said it works to try to crack down on fakes on its site. Earlier this year, Amazon issued its 2023 Brand Protection Report, which said the company has been removing scam products by the millions in conjunction with brands and law enforcement.

“Since its launch in 2020, Amazon’s Counterfeit Crimes Unit has pursued more than 21,000 bad actors through litigation and criminal referrals to law enforcement,” Dharmesh Mehta, the company’s vice president, worldwide selling partner services, wrote in the news release announcing the report. “In 2023, we identified, seized, and appropriately disposed of more than 7 million counterfeit products worldwide, preventing them from harming customers or being resold elsewhere in the retail supply chain.”

As PYMNTS noted at the time, the scale of this issue is significant. For example, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection this winter announced the seizure of three shipments of fake luxury merchandise that would have retailed for $1.2 million altogether “had the merchandise been genuine.”

And a study last year by Michigan State University found that nearly 70% of consumers had unwittingly purchased counterfeit items through eCommerce channels at least once in the previous year.