Amazon Dodges a Counterfeit Bullet in Europe, But What About the U.S.?
E-commerce giant Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) may be hearing more and more criticism for its role in passing along counterfeit goods to online shoppers. But, at least in the European Union (EU), the courts have decided it's not quite as culpable as some investors have feared. The Court Justice of the European Union (CJEU) determined earlier this month that simply storing or facilitating the sale of a falsely represented item doesn't make the middleman liable.
The ruling was a modest relief for Amazon, which, like several other major technology giants, is facing a wave of multi-faceted regulatory pushback. Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL), Amazon, Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), and Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) are all being scrutinized by the U.S. Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission for antitrust and/or consumer privacy-related matters, and each has faced some sort of backlash from consumers who fear it has become too big and too powerful to be trusted. The EU's ruling is a much-needed victory indicating that consumers, advertisers, and these companies' partners bear some degree of responsibility for the consequences of their relationships.
The statistics are stunning. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates counterfeiters sell on the order of $500 billion worth of fake goods every year, making up more than 3% of the world's total trade.
Source Fool.com
