Amazon has launched three lawsuits against entities allegedly misusing its takedown system by lodging thousands of false copyright complaints against competing items.
During a press release on Thursday, Mar. 30, the e-commerce referred to the litigation as a "new offensive against bad actors."
In a report by The Verge, the lawsuits claim that the suspected bad actors did not only submit bogus complaints and sit back to see whether they worked. Amazon also asserts that the parties built false, temporary websites with product photos stolen from the Amazon shop to prove they were the rightful owners of the copied materials.
Bogus Complaints
Amazon claims that one defendant, known as Sidesk, has gone a little further.
The lawsuit alleges that Sidesk utilized a fraudulent trademark registration to get access to the Amazon Brand Registry service. Notably, the application helps enterprises to look for and control scans of counterfeit listings of their goods on Amazon.
Amazon states that Sidesk utilized the trademark even though the US Patent and Trademark Office has terminated the application.
With Sidesk, things become much stranger than they always were. According to the complaint, the trademark application in question was submitted by a company called Shenzhen Huanyee Intellectual Property Co., Ltd. The Patent and Trademark Office reportedly sanctioned the firm for "filing over 15,800 trademark applications using false, fictitious, or fraudulent domicile information and/or credentials."
Sidesk, according to Amazon's complaints, was also the biggest offender in terms of issuing takedown requests, with over 3,850. Dhuog and Vivcic, on the other hand, reportedly submitted 229 and 59 patents, respectively, over the course of a few months.
The cases claim that, on rare occasions, they were successful. "In limited circumstances, Defendants' scheme worked, and materials related to some product listings were temporarily taken down from the Amazon Store in response to Defendants' invalid complaints."
Taking Down Products
To illustrate, there are valid situations in which Amazon's DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) takedown methods might be put to use. For example, if someone tried to sell a shirt featuring Mickey Mouse without Disney's permission, Disney would have the right to demand that the clothing be removed.
Yet, these examples demonstrate how hard it may be to find a middle ground between making it simple for valid claims to have items removed and establishing a system that can be abused by criminal actors. Although Amazon has a variety of powerful measures in place to identify and discourage unscrupulous actors from trying to submit fraudulent and abusive claims of infringement, no system is foolproof.
Same Modus, Different Platform
Unfortunately, this is not an issue exclusive to Amazon.
The Verge said YouTubers have long griped about the site's copyright-claiming structure, saying that it allows corporations and criminals to make false claims in an attempt to blackmail a creator or steal their ad money with little to no repercussions.
If Amazon's lawsuits are successful, they may discourage users from engaging in abusive behavior.
