American Eagle Outfitters is suing Amazon for trademark infringement, alleging the e-commerce giant used branding from its Aerie clothing line in search results, leading consumers to “inferior quality knock-offs.”
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, American Eagle accused Amazon of “flagrant, unauthorized use” of the Aerie and Offline by Aerie trademarks on its site to deceive shoppers into believing the products were available on Amazon, drive traffic to its platform and sell competing merchandise. The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
American Eagle said it didn’t authorize Amazon to sell products from its Aerie line of yoga pants, lingerie, loungewear and other attire, adding that it “intentionally declined so Aerie can foster its own brand identity and customer experience.” American Eagle, founded in 1977, launched the Aerie brand in 2006.
A shopper searching for Aerie products on Google will see sponsored and organic links to Amazon’s website, the lawsuit says. Clicking on a link leads to an Amazon webpage that “displays only knock-offs and ‘dupes'” of Aerie products, including sweatshirts and exercise shorts, American Eagle alleges. The company said it notified Amazon “over a month ago” of the infringing products, but says they were relabeled with misspellings of its Aerie trademarks, including “Aeries,” “Arie” or “Aries.”
“These ads are intended to (and do) trick customers into thinking that by clicking the provided link, they will be able to ‘Shop Aerie’ or ‘Save on Offline by Aerie’ on the ‘Official Amazon Site,'” the complaint states. “These statements are patently false because customers cannot shop for Aerie products on Amazon.”
Many of the alleged Aerie knock-offs referenced in the lawsuit are sold by third-party sellers on Amazon’s online marketplace. Launched in 2000, the marketplace allows businesses to hawk their goods on the company’s site. It’s amassed millions of sellers, and accounts for more than half of all goods sold on the site.
Amazon has faced similar complaints for years. In 2016, shoemaker Birkenstock announced it would pull its products from Amazon in response to a surge in counterfeits. That year, German automaker Daimler AG sued Amazon after it discovered knock-off versions of Mercedes-Benz wheels sold by a third-party seller.
In 2019, Amazon added a line to the “risk factors” section of its annual financial filing warning investors of the growing threat of third-party sellers peddling counterfeits. Since then, the company has stepped up its efforts to police counterfeits on its site, launching a team that pursues criminal action against counterfeiters, filing lawsuits and rolling out tools to help brands protect their trademarks.
Amazon representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The company has previously said it prohibits the sale of counterfeits on its site.
American Eagle is seeking an injunction and financial damages based on Amazon’s alleged trademark infringement.
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