A diagram from the lawsuit filed by Amazon and Valentino against Kaitlyn Pan Group.

Amazon, which has been sued in the past over knock-off goods sold on its third-party marketplace, is joining Valentino to pursue an alleged counterfeiter of the Italian luxury fashion brand’s Rockstud shoes — implicitly reinforcing its contention that it shouldn’t be held liable for illegal activity by sellers on its platform.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Thursday, alleges that Kaitlyn Pan Group of New York engaged in “knowing and willful” copying and infringement of Valentino’s patented designs for its distinctive shoes. Amazon says it shut down the company’s Amazon.com seller account in September 2019, after an investigation, but the alleged counterfeits continue to be sold on the Kaitlyn Pan website.

It’s part of a larger effort by Amazon to crack down on on counterfeits and other misuse of its platform. It’s a difficult challenge, as detailed in a Washington Post article last fall describing a “flea market of fakes” on Amazon.com.

“The vast majority of sellers in our store are honest entrepreneurs but we do not hesitate to take aggressive action to protect customers, brands, and our store from counterfeiters,” said Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s vice president of Customer Trust and Partner Support, in a statement Thursday morning. “Amazon and Valentino are holding this company accountable in a court of law and we appreciate Valentino’s collaboration throughout this investigation.”

As part of the lawsuit, Amazon detailed its efforts to fight counterfeit goods on its platform, including the use of machine learning to detect potential knock-offs. The company’s Project Zero initiative has the goal of eliminating counterfeit goods on Amazon.com. Other Amazon initiatives include Transparency, which promises to eliminate counterfeits for enrolled products.

“Numerous Amazon investigators around the world respond quickly to review any listing identified as a potential counterfeit product,” the lawsuit says.

“These investigators also review notices of claimed infringement from rights owners, who are most familiar with their products. When Amazon determines a product offered for sale is a counterfeit, it removes the product immediately. Amazon regularly suspends or blocks bad actors suspected of engaging in illegal behavior or infringing others’ IP rights.”

Valentino said in a statement on the case, “One of our core missions is to safeguard our brand and protect the Valentino Community by celebrating inclusivity and with creativity at the heart of everything we do. We feel this connection with Amazon will highlight the importance also in fashion for greater awareness, knowledge and understanding by shielding the brand online and its resources.”

We’ve contacted Kaitlyn Pan Group for comment on the lawsuit.

Amazon has filed similar suits in the past in partnership with companies including Nite Ize, a maker of mobile accessories and LED products; Vera Bradley, designer of purses and accessories; and high-end phone case company OtterBox.

In what became a landmark case, the tech giant was sued in 2013 by Seattle-based novelty pillowcase maker Milo & Gabby over knock-offs sold by other companies on Amazon.com. Amazon ultimately won that case, as courts sided with its argument that the sellers of the counterfeits were the ones who should be held liable.

This legal debate has parallels to arguments by social media platforms that they should be shielded from liability for statements and messages published by people who use their platforms. President Trump resurfaced the issue in his executive order over Section 230 of the 1996 Communications Decency Act, seeking to roll back protections that the law gives to platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

Here’s the lawsuit filed by the companies.

Amazon and Valentino v. Kai… by GeekWire on Scribd

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