Amazon and the brand jointly filed a lawsuit, and more than 60 sellers were sued!

Recently, Amazon and 3M Company of the United States jointly sued more than 60 third-party sellers on the Amazon platform, accusing them of selling counterfeit 3M medical devices on Amazon's retail website .

Amazon and 3M allege in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle that a group of “known and unknown” individuals and entities opened dozens of retail accounts on Amazon.com using aliases and unregistered businesses to sell counterfeit stethoscopes bearing the 3M brand.

The sellers' actions involved false advertising, trademark infringement , and violations of Washington consumer protection laws .

It is understood that the stethoscopes sold by these sellers on Amazon are suspected of infringing multiple trademarks owned by 3M, including 3M itself, Littmann, L, Cardiology IV, Master Cardiology and Classic III .

They intentionally concealed their true identities and locations when registering third-party seller accounts , and then operated stores under various business names including "Mooky Store," "Billy Business" and "David Factory . "

Amazon and 3M are seeking a court order requiring "certain financial institutions " associated with the seller's account to cease and desist from selling the counterfeit stethoscopes and to transfer all funds involved in the sale back to Amazon.

Amazon and 3M stated in the indictment that the defendants deceived Amazon and its consumers , infringed and abused 3M's IP (intellectual property) rights, and seriously damaged the brand reputation of Amazon and 3M .

Especially in the current market environment of the COVID-19 pandemic, medical device products have attracted particular attention from consumers, and these counterfeit products have seriously damaged 3 M's reputation in medical devices.

As we all know, Amazon has always strictly prohibited third-party sellers from selling counterfeit products on its platform .

It is reported that Amazon has spent more than $900 million and hired more than 12,000 people to prevent product fraud on the website , and has banned more than 2.5 million "suspicious bad accounts" in total .

An Amazon spokesperson said that in 2021, Amazon prosecuted more than 170 counterfeiters in U.S. courts and prosecuted or transferred more than 600 cases for investigation in the United States, Europe and China .

Amazon has been cracking down on counterfeit and infringing products on the platform , so sellers must abide by the platform rules. Before selecting products, make sure that the products are genuine, and conduct patent and trademark searches to avoid losses to the store due to violations of platform rules .

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Prosecution