MagLULA v. Amazon - Alleged Counterfeit MagLULA And IPR ViolationsThe Firearm Blog

Magazine and accessory manufacturer MagLULA has filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com for alleged Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) violations stemming from the advertising and sale of counterfeit MagLULA, UpLULA and other products covered by registered trademark and copyright protections. The suit, dated December 12, 2019, alleges the unauthorized use of trademarks and copyrights by Amazon in connection with advertising, distribution, offering for sale and by other means listed below. Excerpts from the 79-page filing can be found below.

MagLULA v. Amazon – Alleged Counterfeit MagLULA And IPR Violations

1. This is an action for trademark counterfeiting, trademark infringement, copyright infringement, and unfair competition under federal, state, and/or common law arising from Defendants Amazon.com, Inc.’s and Amazon.com Services, Inc.’s (collectively, “Amazon”) unauthorized use of Maglula’s trademarks and copyrights in connection with the advertising, distributing, displaying, offering for sale, and/or selling of unlicensed, infringing, and/or counterfeits of Maglula’s innovative loaders and unloaders (the “Accused Products”). Maglula also asserts U.S. Patent No. 7,503,138 (“the ’138 patent”) and U.S. Patent No. 7,637,048 (“the ’048 patent”) (collectively, “the Asserted Patents”) against Amazon for the unauthorized offering to sell, selling, and/or importing of the Accused Products covered by at least one claim of each of the Asserted Patents.

2. Amazon has become so overrun with counterfeit products—and its meager efforts to address this problem have been so ineffective—that counterfeit products are now leaving Amazon warehouses all over the United States at an alarming rate. Amazon knowingly sells such products, leaving U.S. consumers and intellectual property (“IP”) owners to suffer while Amazon profits handsomely, adding to its multibillion-dollar annual revenue and reported trillion-dollar valuation. Amazon’s ineffective processes to stop the sale of knock-off products do not apply to unregistered IP, such as trademarks protected by common law, and are easily circumvented by Amazon’s business partners. Making matters worse, IP owners who try to defend themselves and their valued customers utilizing Amazon’s procedures face lip service, long delays, growing frustration, and significant expense—all to virtually no avail.

3. Amazon’s proliferation of counterfeit products hurts more than just IP owners. It hurts customers duped out of their hard-earned money and exposes them to poor-quality and/or potentially dangerous knock-off products. Amazon’s conduct also hurts those retailers committed to selling genuine products—many of whom struggle to compete with Amazon’s size, scale, and pricing. Counterfeiting is a prolific problem with a widespread negative impact. Amazon, as the largest online seller, contributes immensely to this problem and must be part of the solution, for the sake of the IP owners, its customers, and the public at large.