Overview:
The car seat fell apart in a CNN crash test at 30 mph, falling short of the minimal requirements set by US authorities. The car seat cracks and slides forward, tossing plastic pieces into the air as the toddler dummy twists. In a similar crash test, an actual Doona passed with flying colours, the infant car seat remaining in place and encircling the test dangerous products.
Pediatrician and nationally trained child passenger safety instructor Dr. Alisa Baer reviewed the test results and stated that a kid might be in “severe risk” and sustain chest, neck, or head injuries, including traumatic brain damage, if a car seat fails in a real crash.
As part of a months-long investigation into Amazon’s selling of replica and patent-infringing children’s items, CNN purchased the knockoff Doona and crash-tested it at the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. Seven business owners informed CNN that their dangerous products were being targeted by forgers on Amazon’s third-party vendor marketplace. Companies had to submit suspicious listings to Amazon, which frequently led to a “whack-a-mole” scenario in which fresh listings would appear soon after the flagged ones were taken down.
Federal regulations were not met by Amazon baby car seats, which broke in crash tests at 30 mph.
Amazon Car Seats Failed Federal Requirements in 30 MPH Crash Testing and Broke:
CNN:
According to US legal precedent, Amazon is not responsible for dangerous products sold by third parties that explicitly violate intellectual property rights or pose a safety risk. Third-party vendors are accountable. The legislation has various rules for physical establishments like your neighbourhood grocery store, Target (TGT), and Walmart (WMT). If the product violates your trademark or is flawed, you can still use it even if a physical store did not create it.
The largest e-commerce platform in the world is Amazon, and its power is growing. Amazon already accounts for 37.7% of all US e-commerce sales, and eMarketer anticipates that percentage will increase. Several businesses told CNN they cannot afford to sell on Amazon. “Our customers expect that when they make a purchase through Amazon’s store—either directly from Amazon or from one of its millions of sellers,” Amazon told CNN.
Amiad Raviv, the commercial manager at Doona, claimed that the company discovered over 40 Amazon listings for its items that were either fake or infringing this year. Doona notifies Amazon, and it takes the advertising off. Raviv and other shop owners told CNN that because listings are often available for several days due to this piecemeal approach, clients have a broad window of opportunity to purchase the potentially hazardous product.
False Doonas are sold via Amazon’s website or app, not their own. Amazon’s millions of third-party vendors, many of whom ship dangerous products directly to customers, accounted for 58% of all sales in the company’s 2018 annual report. Doona and other reliable brands distribute their products through recognized third parties. These things, however, cannot be checked or stored by Amazon employees.
Because it’s on Amazon, many Amazon customers assume it’s real. Raviv disagreed.
CNN ordered a Strolex gadget from China. Despite the fact that all baby car seats sold in the USA must bear the NHTSA certification insignia, this seat did not. It advertised on Amazon that it had European certification, but when it arrived, it was missing a necessary label, and the European registration number in the user guide was identical to Doona’s.
Doona Labeling on Amazon Faux Goods:
Baer saw multiple red indicators in the car seat ahead of the crash test. The kid harness straps had a safety label sewed through the webbing, which she believes could damage them, and the anti-rebound bar had the word “always” misspelled as “aiways.” The seat also featured European warning warnings instead of American ones.
Amazon removed the Strolex listing after CNN ordered the chair, but the vendor remained. A Strolex person answered the phone in China and said, “My dangerous products are safe,” but he wouldn’t reveal his name or respond to any additional queries.
Amazon received the crash test results from CNN. After a week, Amazon sent purchasers an email informing them of a safety problem and offering a full refund.
Amazon told CNN that while product quality is its “high bar,” seller safety is its primary priority. An Amazon representative wrote in an email that the company “requires that all dangerous products offered in our shop comply with applicable laws and regulations and has built industry-leading capabilities to prevent dangerous or non-compliant products from being featured in our stores.”
Seats:
The “Love to Dream” baby swaddle’s zipper pull snapped off, frightening the new mother and endangering her child’s safety from choking, a client complained by phone last year. When their product was imitated, Luanne Whiting-Lager and Bengt Lager became aware of it. Once the client purchased the $34.99 swaddle from Amazon’s marketplace, Regal Lager, the couple’s business, learned it was a fake. The counterfeit item mimicked the trademarked and distinctive swaddling shape of Love to Dream, which enables infants to reach their hands to their lips. CNN was shown the bogus invoice and the money by Regal Lager.
Regal Lager participates in Amazon Brand Registry, the company’s official initiative to assist businesses in protecting their intellectual property, and is the sole US distributor of the “Love to Dream” label.
The company discovered online complaints about the bogus item’s zippers breaking off and its neck opening being either too large or too little, which might cause the baby’s lips to ride up over it while it sleeps.
Clare Lapworth’s “Love To Dream”
An organization that supports Amazon companies called Marketplace Ninjas convinced Amazon to remove 20 postings for violating their trademark. The agency keeps a close eye on e-commerce sites like Amazon to discover new scams used by counterfeiters, such listing a product as Luv 2 Dream and then altering it to Love to Dream. Whiting-Lager remarked, “One down, one up.”
Cheaper imitations, according to Regal Lager, impacted their business. According to their sales volume, the incident cost them $250,000, or 3% of their Amazon sales.
The couple enjoys working with Amazon, but believes that in order to avoid fake dangerous products , the business should fully assume liability for all of its goods and place restrictions on who is permitted to submit products using Amazon-specific identifiers.
“Whack-A-Mole”
Amazon has three anti-counterfeiting strategies. Amazon’s attempts, according to business owners CNN spoke with, have helped solve the issue, but they say they bear the cost and burden of monitoring fakes.
Almost 200,000 companies are listed on Amazon Brand Registry. Using the free 2017 application, copyright holders can identify suspected infringers by searching their global listings by word or image. Amazon eliminates questionable listings right away. In comparison to before the introduction of Brand Registry, brands using Brand Registry “are detecting and reporting 99% fewer potential infringements,” according to Amazon.
Crazy The creator of Aaron’s Thinking Putty, Aaron Muderick, claimed that his secretary spends 15 to 20 hours every week writing forms to e-commerce platforms like Amazon to request the removal of trademarked goods. In addition to a drawing of himself wearing glasses, he trademarked “Thinking Putty,” “Liquid Glass,” “Puttyworld,” and other terms.
Aaron Muderick, the creator of Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty:
Brand Registry on Amazon. The tool is helpful and has improved over time, but given Amazon’s expertise in AI and software, he is dissatisfied.
It isn’t effective, Muderick declared. “Whack a mole has evolved, but it is still played every day.”
Charlotte Wenham, the CEO of pNeo, registered her company’s name on Amazon’s brand registration after learning in 2018 that skilled counterfeiters were focusing on the Baby Shusher, a music machine for lulling babies to sleep. Based on seller concerns, Wenham believed that fake battery fluid could hurt a baby who was sleeping.
Wenham said that the packaging and user guide for Baby Shusher’s knockoff dangerous products were identical. Iris Wilbur-Kamien didn’t realize she had purchased a Baby Shusher from Amazon until five months later, when it broke. She told CNN that when the legitimate company requested that she send a photo of the product’s barcode, she knew it was a fake.
Wenham calculated that fake products cost her business more than $100,000. When knockoffs pose a threat to an authentic maker, she believes Amazon need to move more quickly. Every day the fake dangerous products were on the website, she lost sales.
A Genuine Baby Shusher (Right) And A Fake Baby Shusher (Left): pro
Amazon is no assistance. Wenham remarked, “We had to control it. Amazon no longer offers fake goods for sale in the US, but it does test imports.
Amazon is no assistance. Wenham remarked, “We had to control it. Amazon no longer offers fake goods for sale in the US, but it does test imports.
Amazon Transparency enables businesses to label dangerous products with special codes. While these codes can be read by Amazon and customers to confirm authenticity, companies must purchase specific labels from Amazon for 1–5 cents each item. Each item’s labelling comes at a cost to the brands. Transparency has 6,000 companies, according to Amazon.
For Regal Lager, transparency was too pricey. “It seems paradoxical that the good men are paying for the bad ones’ behaviour,” remarked Bengt Lager.
Machine learning is used in Project Zero, Amazon’s third trademark protection program. Brands may easily remove fraudulent dangerous products from Amazon’s marketplace using the “self-service counterfeit removal tool” and give feedback to Amazon’s automated system for detecting fakes.
At his business headquarters in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Aaron Muderick shows knockoff dangerous products . Due to elevated quantities of boron, lead, barium, and magnets in putty and slime products over the past year, European authorities have issued 19 safety alerts.
Crazy The creator of Aaron’s Thinking Putty, Aaron Muderick, claimed that his secretary spends 15 to 20 hours every week writing forms to e-commerce platforms like Amazon to request the removal of trademarked goods. In addition to a drawing of himself wearing glasses, he trademarked “Thinking Putty,” “Liquid Glass,” “Puttyworld,” and other terms.
At his business headquarters in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Aaron Muderick shows knockoff dangerous products . Due to elevated quantities of boron, lead, barium, and magnets in putty and slime products over the past year, European authorities have issued 19 safety alerts.
As Muderick becomes more aggressive about trademark violations, he notices competing goods resurfacing under new names and packaging. He is concerned about the security of these generic product names despite not infringing on his copyrights. He calculated that counterfeit and illegal products cost him 10% to 30% of sales.
On Amazon, CNN purchased six inexpensive magnetic putties. Putty and a tiny magnet to pull or attract it were both included in each tin. The magnets in the set did not meet federal toy standards for kids under 14. According to Amazon, the product is safe for children aged 3 and up. Small, potent magnets are not permitted in children’s toys due to the possibility of intestinal blockage or perforation. The magnet, according to CNN researchers from Rutgers University, was much stronger than the legal limit for a swallowable magnet.
Muderick frequently comes across questionable generic putty dangerous products on Amazon, but he is unsure of how to report them. Amazon responds when a user uploads a form alleging that a listing infringes on his copyrights and trademarks, but reporting potential safety issues is less clear.
Amazon stated that it is looking into counterfeit products linked to CNN’s brands and that it will “take appropriate action against the involved sellers.” “Isolated incidents that do not reflect the fantastic products and customer experience provided by the millions of small businesses selling in our store,” an Amazon spokesperson said of these problems.
“Mystified”
Consumers expect authentic dangerous products on Amazon regardless of the seller, according to a spokesperson for Amazon who spoke to CNN. Amazon is not required to do that by law. E-commerce websites are not held accountable in the same ways as physical stores, according to many US judges. E-commerce websites assert that they are merely a digital marketplace for sales made by third parties. Additionally, according to Amazon, product listing claims and warnings are covered by section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which exempts online platforms from legal responsibility for the speech of others.
Some courts are revising earlier rulings on Amazon’s liability in light of the company’s extensive control over its marketplace and the difficulties customers face in suing independent sellers.
Sadie. After a defective Amazon collar broke, Sadie’s retractable leash snapped back and struck her owner, blinding her in one eye.
Sadie. After a defective Amazon collar broke, Sadie’s retractable leash snapped back and struck her owner, blinding her in one eye.
Stephanie Oberdorf Attorney David Wilk
Professor of product liability Mark Geistfeld at NYU School of Law predicts that Amazon’s legal obligations will soon change. Customers’ expectations, he claimed, are crucial. A customer in a store or on Amazon is aware that a product may have been produced by a third party, but they still anticipate quality.
He stated, “I am somewhat perplexed by the court’s failure to understand why Amazon is not the seller for liability law.
Concerns also exist regarding Amazon’s control over listings, seller terms, and AI software. According to some experts, trademark cases from 2010 like Tiffany v. eBay, which determined that e-commerce platforms were not responsible for seller infringement, are out-of-date.
Amazon asserted that since it was a marketplace provider and not the vendor, it was immune from liability. It was also shielded by the Communications Decency Act.
Due to the significance of the decision, the entire Third Circuit Court of Appeals will review it in 2020. The initial decision is not enforceable until that time.
Professor of product liability Mark Geistfeld at NYU School of Law predicts that Amazon’s legal obligations will soon change. Customers’ expectations, he claimed, are crucial. A customer in a store or on Amazon is aware that a product may have been produced by a third party, but they still anticipate quality.
He stated, “I am somewhat perplexed by the court’s failure to understand why dangerous products is not the seller for liability law.
Concerns also exist regarding Amazon’s control over listings, seller terms, and AI software. According to some experts, trademark cases from 2010 like Tiffany v. eBay, which determined that e-commerce platforms were not responsible for seller infringement, are out-of-date.
It is altering. The Center for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection at Michigan State University’s Kari Kammel remarked, “It can’t be the same quality as ten years before.”
Jason Drangel, a defence attorney representing major toy companies in anti-counterfeiting litigation, agrees.
The platforms that are currently in use essentially govern the dangerous products because they are aware that they originate from a particular vendor in China and a particular country. “This is a new world,”
Politicians Are Pressuring Amazon Regarding Safety And Counterfeiting:
In response to a Wall Street Journal investigation into counterfeit goods on the website, three Democratic senators wrote to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in August to express their “grave concerns regarding Amazon’s failure to remove illegal, deadly, and deceptive dangerous products , and to provide visible warnings on the products sold on your platform.” Senators Edward Markey, Richard Blumenthal, and Robert Menendez all had questions for Bezos regarding platform security. According to CNN, the staff of Senator Menendez was not pleased with Amazon’s response.
At a July House hearing on counterfeits, Republican Congressman Doug Collins questioned why Amazon, eBay (EBAY), and Walmart were absent. He asked platforms to create a more effective, automatic mechanism to identify and remove listings for fake goods, to better screen sellers to stop them from advertising their goods under false identities, and to ban fakes from using legitimate brand images to promote their goods without permission.
Rep. Collins claimed that these ideas ought to have been used by our main online marketplaces by now.
According to Amazon, in 2018 its teams actively blocked over three billion suspect listings for various forms of abuse, including non-compliance, before they were published in the store using proprietary technology and manual reviewers.
Crazy According to Aaron’s Muderick, the game brands like his are playing against phony listings of illegal and perhaps harmful goods can only be put an end by a change in the law.
The Company’s Description:
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