On December 12, plaintiff Maglula Ltd. filed a complaint against defendant Amazon (Maglula, Ltd. v. Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon.com Services, Inc. 3:19-cv-00922) for counterfeiting and infringement. The complaint was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia. Maglula is represented by Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner.
The complaint is for trademark counterfeiting, trademark infringement, copyright infringement, and unfair competition from Amazon’s unauthorized use of Maglula’s trademarks and copyrights and for infringing or counterfeiting Maglula’s patented products. The patents in suit are U.S. Patent Numbers” 7,503,138 and 7,637,048. The complaint alleged that Amazon knowingly sells counterfeit and infringing products without trying to stop this problem or helping vendors whose products are affected by the illegal sales. Maglula manufactures firearm magazine loaders, including professional military-grade tools for loading and unloading magazines.
The complaint alleged that since 2016, Amazon has continued to sell knock-off Maglula products. These products infringe on Maglula’s patents, copyrights, and trademarks. Maglula is an Israel-based company, so the products have a Made in Israel label, while Amazon’s counterfeit label states Made in China. The vendors counterfeiting these goods include Amazon.com Services, Inc., Amazon Renewed, Amazon Warehouse Deals, and Amazon pallet liquidation. Further, Amazon failed to give Maglula the needed information to stop others from selling and purchasing these knock-off products; it ignored Maglula’s request to acknowledge its registered patents and trademarks. Amazon also ignored Maglula’s industry known trademarks “Maglula” and “UpLULA” when it tried to join Amazon’s brand registry. Amazon also ignored UpLULA’s distinctive packaging and repeatedly infringe on Maglula’s intellectual property.
The complaint stated, “[t]o demonstrate just how ineffective Amazon is at stopping its sale of counterfeits, Amazon even sold a counterfeit of the Maglula UpLULA® product—clearly marked as ‘COUNTERFEIT’—and wrapped in an Amazon-branded plastic bag.” Images are below:
Maglula extensively contacted Amazon regarding the counterfeit and infringing products, however, Amazon failed to timely and effectively stop its sale of infringing products, which has ultimately hurt Maglula’s business. The complaint lists the patents, copyrights, and trademarks in suit. The complaint further stated, while the name of a product might state Maglula Ltd. and list Maglula as the creator, these products also stated below ‘add to cart’ “Ships from and sold by Amazon.com” in actuality, these were infringing products sold by Amazon, not Maglula. Similar instances occurred for the other counterfeit Amazon vendors.
Maglula instructed customers who contacted the company after supposedly buying its products from Amazon to sign or engrave their name on the item, take a photograph after signing and send it to Maglula. Each of these customer’s invoices shows that they’re sold by Amazon.com Services, Inc. Maglula has collected more than forty counterfeit products.
Maglula has sought relief from the accounts of infringement, counterfeiting, and unfair business practices.
