AFAIK, trademark law does not require explicit knowledge, if you sell an item with a trademark and just don't care whether it came from the mark owner then you're still infringing if it didn't.
So, all those dodgy USB drives that are branded are infringing.
In the UK these are "counterfeit" and illegal to sell (not just tortuous, criminal).
I'm surprised if the USA code doesn't make these actions criminal and leaves them only as civil matters given how much the state choose to consider copyright as a criminal action?
I mean, if I had repeated instances of someone else performing illegal activities in my basement, I can't continually, or even once, claim that I had no idea. Amazon knows it has counterfeit problems and does nothing to curb it. In fact, they encourage it. Just because it's hidden behind several layers of software abstraction does not mean that Amazon doesn't have explicit knowledge. These products even physically sit in their own warehouses.
Knowing about the existence of crime in a general sense is not legally or functionally the same as knowing about or being directly involved with a specific instance of crime.
> I mean, if I had repeated instances of someone else performing illegal activities in my basement, I can't continually, or even once, claim that I had no idea.
Amazon does not claim that they are unaware of counterfeit products on their platform. They do explicitly say they are aware of fraudulent products on their platform, and they have blogs on their website that talk about this.
> Just because it's hidden behind several layers of software abstraction does not mean that Amazon doesn't have explicit knowledge.
They are generally aware that marketplace sellers list fraudulent products. They are not specifically aware that any particular new listing is fraudulent until after the fact.
> These products even physically sit in their own warehouses.
Sometimes they do, but not all of the time. However, putting the item in a warehouse does nothing to authenticate it.
> They are not specifically aware that any particular new listing is fraudulent until after the fact.
> However, putting the item in a warehouse does nothing to authenticate it.
Those are both Amazon's problems and not customers' or the law's problems. Here's an idea: if you are constantly ingesting fraudulent products in your warehouses and shopping site, maybe do something about it?
So, all those dodgy USB drives that are branded are infringing.
In the UK these are "counterfeit" and illegal to sell (not just tortuous, criminal).
I'm surprised if the USA code doesn't make these actions criminal and leaves them only as civil matters given how much the state choose to consider copyright as a criminal action?