Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, ADVERTISING NEWS: Amazon sues companies allegedly offering fake 5-star reviews, (Apr 9, 2015)

By Jody Coultas, J.D.

In order to curb the sale of allegedly false Amazon.com reviews, Amazon.com, Inc. has filed suit in the Superior Court of the State of Washington against the operators of paid review services seeking to enjoin the sites from using Amazon’s trademarks, accessing Amazon’s services, and offering the sale of Amazon reviews (Amazon.com, Inc. v. Gentile, April 8, 2015).

Amazon publishes customer reviews of products and services available on Amazon.com to help customers make informed purchases. Although Amazon prohibits any attempt to manipulate customer reviews and actively polices its website to remove false, misleading, and inauthentic reviews, some sellers and manufacturers attempt to gain unfair competitive advantages by purchasing fake customer reviews for their products, according to the complaint.

buyazonreviews.com advertises “some of the best Amazon reviews in the industry and all of our reviewers are actual people that try your product and deliver high quality optimized unbiased reviews.” However, Amazon alleges that the CEO of buyamazonreviews.com promised a customer as many five-star reviews as the customer wanted, promised to “slow drip” them onto the product pages so that Amazon would have a difficult time detecting them, and suggested that the purchaser “do a few verified purchase reviews … so as not to raise any eyebrows with [A]mazon.” The CEO also allegedly stated that reviewers do not need to receive the products they are reviewing, and the purchaser could ship empty packages in an effort to fool Amazon into believing the reviewer was a “verified purchaser.”

The defendants operating “bayreviews.net” allegedly use Amazon’s logo to advertise “a unique system that generates high quality 5 rating reviews to your Kindle eBook.” “buyreviewsnow.com” allegedly claims “never has it been easier to get multiple 4 and 5 star reviews on your product page.”

Amazon brings claims for violations of the Lanham Act based on the websites’ illegal use of Amazon’s trademark, the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, the Washington Consumer Protection Act, and Washington common law. The consumer protection claims are based on the public dissemination of false consumer reviews designed to deceive Amazon customers.

The complaint requests permanent and injunctive relief, an order declaring that Defendants hold in trust, as constructive trustees for the benefit of Amazon, their illegal profits gained from the sale of fake reviews, and a full and complete accounting of all amounts obtained as a result of the illegal activities. Amazon also asked that the court order the infringing domain names be transferred to Amazon. Finally, Amazon sought and actual and statutory damages, including treble damages, attorney fees, and any further relief as is just and proper.

Attorneys: David A. Bateman (K&L Gates LLP) for Amazon.com, Inc.

Companies: Amazon.com, Inc.

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