Amazon Publishes Comprehensive Brand Protection Report Demonstrating Progress Toward Driving Counterfeits to Zero

Rhea-AI Summary

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) released its 2020 Brand Protection Report, highlighting investments exceeding $700 million and over 10,000 employees dedicated to combatting counterfeits. Key achievements include preventing over 6 million unauthorized selling account attempts and blocking more than 10 billion suspect listings. Only 6% of attempted account registrations succeeded, showcasing robust verification processes. Amazon destroyed more than 2 million counterfeit products and facilitated trademark applications for over 7,000 small businesses. The report emphasizes Amazon's commitment to protecting customers and brands through innovative tools and legal actions against counterfeiters.

Positive

• Invested over $700 million in brand protection efforts.
• Employed over 10,000 people to combat fraud and abuse.
• Prevented over 6 million unauthorized selling account attempts.
• Blocked over 10 billion suspect listings before publication.
• Destroyed over 2 million counterfeit products before delivery.
• Facilitated trademark applications for more than 7,000 businesses.

Negative

• None.

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) today released its 2020 Brand Protection Report which provides a comprehensive view of how it ensures customers shop from authentic products in its stores. Amazon makes significant investments in dedicated teams and industry-leading machine learning technology to proactively protect customers, brands and its selling partners from counterfeiters, and to hold them accountable if they attempt to sell fakes through Amazon. In 2020, Amazon invested more than $700 million and employed more than 10,000 people to protect its stores from fraud and abuse.

“Amazon was an important partner for the 1.9 million small and medium businesses that sell in our store during the pandemic. We’ve helped our selling partners keep their virtual doors open, and despite increased attempts by bad actors, continued to ensure that the vast majority of customers shop with confidence from our broad selection of authentic products,” said Dharmesh Mehta, Vice President, Customer Trust and Partner Support, Amazon. “Our team's relentless innovation has helped us stop 6 million attempts to create a selling account and more than 10 billion suspect listings as we continue to drive counterfeits to zero.”

Highlights from the 2020 Brand Protection Report show Amazon’s significant innovation and worldwide progress in combatting counterfeits and protecting customers and brands, including:

• Amazon invested more than $700 million to protect its stores from fraud and abuse.
• Amazon employed more than 10,000 people to protect its store from fraud and abuse.
• Amazon’s verification processes prevented over 6 million attempts to create selling accounts, stopping bad actors before they published a single product for sale.
• Only 6% of attempted account registrations passed Amazon’s robust verifications processes and listed products for sale.
• Amazon seized more than 2 million products that were sent to its fulfillment centers and that it detected as counterfeit before being sent to a customer. Amazon destroyed those products to prevent them from being resold elsewhere in the supply chain.
• Amazon blocked more than 10 billion suspected bad listings before they were published in its stores.
• Amazon Transparency, a serialization service that protects individual product units, enabled the protection of more than 500 million product units.
• Fewer than 0.01% of all products sold on Amazon received a counterfeit complaint from customers. Those complaints were then investigated for accuracy.
• More than 7,000 small and medium-sized businesses were connected to trusted law firms in the U.S. and Europe through IP Accelerator. These businesses successfully submitted trademark applications and received early access to Brand Registry’s brand protection tools.
• Amazon established its Counterfeit Crimes Unit to build and refer cases to law enforcement, undertake independent investigations or joint investigations with brands, and pursue civil litigation against counterfeiters.

Adrienne McNicholas, Co-Founder of the small business Food Huggers, said: “Brand owners can’t be in all places at all times. Having the Amazon brand protection tools available to small businesses like Food Huggers gives us the ability to protect our brands and our IP around the globe.”

The Brand Protection Report outlines Amazon’s anti-counterfeiting approach, including:

• Robust proactive controls. Amazon leverages a combination of advanced machine learning capabilities and expert human investigators to protect its store proactively from bad actors and bad products. Amazon is constantly innovating in this space to stay ahead of bad actors and their continued attempts to circumvent its controls.
• Powerful tools for brands. Brands know their products best. They know their logos, patterns, and intellectual property inside and out. Amazon empowers brands to partner with us through tools like Brand Registry, Transparency, and Project Zero. These tools are powered by Amazon’s advanced technology and each brand’s expert knowledge of their products. Together, we can more effectively detect and stop counterfeiters, which allows us to better protect customers and rights owners.
• Holding counterfeiters accountable. Amazon continues to innovate on its robust proactive controls and powerful tools for brands, and won’t rest until there are zero counterfeits in its store. This is an escalating battle with criminals that continue to attempt to find ways to sell counterfeits, and the only way to permanently stop these counterfeiters is to hold them accountable through the court system and criminal prosecution.

To view the Amazon Brand Protection Report, click here.

About Amazon

Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Amazon strives to be Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company, Earth’s Best Employer, and Earth’s Safest Place to Work. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Career Choice, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, Alexa, Just Walk Out technology, Amazon Studios, and The Climate Pledge are some of the things pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.

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FAQ

What were Amazon's key achievements in its 2020 Brand Protection Report?

Amazon's 2020 Brand Protection Report highlighted investments of $700 million, employment of over 10,000 people, prevention of 6 million unauthorized selling accounts, and blocking of 10 billion suspect listings.

How does Amazon protect against counterfeit products?

Amazon employs advanced machine learning technology and a dedicated workforce to prevent counterfeits, including blocking suspect listings and destroying counterfeit products before they reach customers.

What percentage of attempted account registrations were successful on Amazon?

Only 6% of attempted account registrations passed Amazon's verification processes in 2020.

How many counterfeit products did Amazon destroy in 2020?

In 2020, Amazon destroyed over 2 million counterfeit products that were detected before delivery.

What is Amazon's commitment to small businesses regarding brand protection?

Amazon connected over 7,000 small businesses to trusted law firms for trademark applications and provided tools for brand protection, enhancing their ability to combat counterfeits.