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by StressedDev 958 days ago
Probably because seizing the entire warehouse is an awful and unjust idea.

First, Amazon's warehouse hold merchandise from other companies. Why should they be punished because Amazon or a different company is selling counterfeit goods.

Second, do the retailers know they are selling counterfeit products? There is a huge difference between intentionally deceiving people and getting hoodwinked by thieves. For example, if Amazon's employees decided to buy counterfeit and promote them, that would be wrong. However, what happens if an Amazon employee is tricked and thinks they are buying legitimate goods but are really buying fake goods. In the later case, Amazon is a victim of fraud and should not be punished.

Finally, punishments should be proportional to the crime. If I cause $5 worth of damage, I should not pay a $10,000 fine. Note I have noticed a lot of online posters push for draconian punishments and that is not just or helpful.

2 comments

> Second, do the retailers know they are selling counterfeit products?

Everyone selling 2tb thumb drives knows they're selling counterfeit products, yes.

They will of course strategically claim ignorance if confronted - a lie only the most naive would believe.

Technically speaking, those 2tb flash drives are fraudulent, but not counterfeit. (which generally refers to misrepresentation in brand origin)

Also, the word "knowingly" requires the person taking action to have the knowledge in their head. Someone else knowing it isn't enough to qualify.

Amazon's listings are not curated. Amazon knows nothing about fraudulent listings until later brought to their attention. These fake flash drives exist for short period of time until they are brought to Amazon's attention, at which point, they are taken down.

They control the listings, they receive and hold the merchandise, they ship it, they deliver it, they take payment, they handle customer complaints, ...

What's the point where we are going to say "it's not good enough to point at the 3rd party with the autogenerated name" and "computers at large"?