Thursday, December 20, 2018

Williams-Sonoma sues Amazon over knockoffs and ‘strikingly similar’ products | Washington Post

Evidently not taken as the sincerest form of flattery... On a related note, see Prime and punishment. Dirty dealing in the $175 billion Amazon Marketplace. | The Verge
"For Christmas, Williams-Sonoma got Amazon the gift that truly keeps on giving: a federal lawsuit.

In a complaint filed Dec. 14, the home goods company accused Amazon.com of selling unauthorized Williams-Sonoma merchandise on its website. It also claimed the retail giant “unfairly and deceptively engaged in a widespread campaign of copying” designs of its West Elm furniture for its own furniture line, Rivet. (Amazon founder and chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos owns The Washington Post.) Sometimes the items are sold at a significant markup, the complaint states; other times, they’re sold at lower prices.

It’s widely known that third-party vendors sell counterfeit products on Amazon, but the company has sidestepped blame in the past by claiming it merely provides the platform and can’t control those vendors. This complaint is different. The knockoff Williams-Sonoma products are being sold and marketed by Amazon itself, putting Amazon in direct competition with Williams-Sonoma, according to the company’s lawyers."
Williams-Sonoma sues Amazon over knockoffs and ‘strikingly similar’ products | Washington Post

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