Listen to this articleSeveral Amazon.com websites in Europe have been added to the U.S. list of “Notorious Markets” for counterfeiting and piracy.
The websites are named in the list released on Thursday by the workplace of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). The list which is up to date yearly, identifies e-commerce websites and corporations deemed to be facilitating the sale of counterfeit goods and fascinating in mental property violations or piracy.
Amazon websites in the U.Okay., Germany, Spain, France and Italy have been named in the 2020 report.
Critics have lengthy complained that Amazon doesn’t display screen third-party sellers on its market or make it clear to manufacturers and customers “who is selling the goods.”
In 2018, The American Apparel & Footwear Association complained about Amazon and urged the commerce consultant to incorporate some of its websites on the list of the pretend product websites believed to be promoting counterfeit, unsafe and expired goods.
Some of Amazon websites have been added first time to the list in 2019. USTR has recognized notorious markets in the Special 301 Report since 2006.
But the E-commerce big says it strongly disagrees with the continual inclusion of its websites to the list, describing it as a “purely political act” and an instance of President Trump’s administration “using the U.S. government to advance a personal vendetta against Amazon.”
“Including Amazon in this report is the continuation of a personal vendetta against Amazon, and nothing more than a desperate stunt in the final days of this administration,” an Amazon spokesperson instructed CNBC in an announcement. “Amazon does more to fight counterfeit than any other private entity we are aware of.”
Throughout the previous 4 years of his administration, President Trump has been crucial of Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos, in response to reports.
Jeff Bezos, the World’s richest man, owns The Washington Post, which President Trump has repeatedly criticized for its unfavorable protection of his administration all through the 4 years of his Administration.
Amazon claimed it didn’t win a Pentagon cloud-computing contract, which could possibly be value as a lot as $10 billion, because of this of political assaults in opposition to the corporate and its CEO.
But Amazon websites usually are not the one websites and corporations named on the “Notorious Markets” list. Also included in the list is China’s largest e-commerce platform, Taobao.com, which is owned and operated by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd BABA.N. Others are the Chinese e-commerce web site Pinduoduo, South American e-commerce firm Mercadolibre and the file sharing web site The Pirate Bay. Some websites operated out of Indonesia, Poland, the Czech Republic and different international locations are additionally in the list.
“Commercial-scale copyright piracy and trademark counterfeiting cause significant financial losses for U.S. right holders and legitimate businesses, undermine critical U.S. comparative advantages in innovation and creativity to the detriment of American workers, and pose significant risks to consumer health and safety,” USTR said.
“The rapid growth of e-commerce platforms has helped fuel the growth of counterfeit and pirated goods into a half trillion-dollar industry. This illicit trade has an enormous impact on the American economy by eroding the competitiveness of American workers, manufacturers, and innovators”, USTR stated in the discharge titled 2020 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy.
