If you utilized Amazon as a third-party fake Nintendo merchandise seller, they’ve got your number.
The Big N and Amazon filed a joint lawsuit in October 2023 for illegal sales of fake amiibo and game cartridges being passed off as the real deal. The seller in question failed to respond to the lawsuit and in an update to this unfolding tale, Nintendo and Amazon asked the court for a judgment of more than 7 million dollars in statutory damages on Tuesday.
Both companies claim this to be a “conservative amount” of the estimated damages for the defendant’s wrongdoing. Nintendo and its lawyer’s hope is that this fine will keep future third party sales outlets from “abusing Nintendo’s brand” in the future.
The counterfeit sellers agreed to not to sell fake products on Amazon when they initially signed on as third party accounts, but went on to do just that. In fact, Amazon sent Nintendo the exact counterfeit items being sold which included The Legend of Zelda and Animal Crossing amiibo cards, posters, and Nintendo DS cartridges. More fake products were discovered across multiple selling accounts and all were verified as such by Nintendo themselves.
“Nintendo utilizes both internal and external resources to combat counterfeit and infringing products,” Nintendo lawyers wrote in a documented complaint. “Nintendo works with a third-party brand protection service vendor on the detection and removal of product listings violating Nintendo’s IP rights that are identified and sold in Amazon’s stores. Nintendo works regularly and collaboratively with Amazon to identify counterfeit Nintendo products and to strengthen automated detection and removal of the products from Amazon’s stores.”
Amazon shut down the accused accounts, according to the lawsuit documents. Accusations of trademark infringement, false advertising, breach of contract, and violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act are being alleged.
Considering this is the most prominent amiibo news story we’ve seen in a minute, their value is clearly still prominent in people’s minds. Let’s hope their high collector status and value isn’t taken advantage of anymore following this documented case.
Via: Polygon
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Written by Matthew Powers
Nintendo has been Matthew’s preference for fun video gaming since 2004. In addition to his love for all things Mario, Metroid and beyond, Matthew also enjoys heavy metal, roller coasters, pinball machines, and being a proud cat dad.
