Amazon.com Inc. has established a new Counterfeit Crimes Unit to investigate sellers who sell fake products on its platform.

The unit, which includes former federal prosecutors, experienced investigators and data analysts, has as its primary goal preventing counterfeit products from being listed on Amazon.com.

The secondary goal of the unit is to file civil lawsuits and aid companies who have had their products copied to investigate those who have stolen their intellectual property. In addition, the unit will work with law enforcement to fight companies offering counterfeit goods.

“Every counterfeiter is on notice that they will be held accountable to the maximum extent possible under the law, regardless of where they attempt to sell their counterfeits or where they’re located,” Dharmesh Mehta, vice president, customer trust and partner support at Amazon, said in a blog post today. “We are working hard to disrupt and dismantle these criminal networks and we applaud the law enforcement authorities who are already part of this fight.”

Mehta called on governments to “give these authorities the investigative tools, funding and resources they need to bring criminal counterfeiters to justice because criminal enforcement — through prosecution and other disruption measures such as freezing assets — is one of the most effective ways to stop them.”

Amazon has decided to go after counterfeiters despite the fact it has an e-commerce presence in mainland China. Officially the government of China says that it respects intellectual property laws and is against counterfeit goods — including passing a law against counterfeiting in late 2018 — but according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 86% of the world’s counterfeit goods come from the Middle Kingdom. Amazon, in taking on counterfeit goods, is potentially taking on China and that may not end well.

Segway Inc. announced yesterday that it was going out of business and, though some may argue that the company was overhyped and never met its promise, the main reason it failed is that there are countless knockoffs available from mainland Chinese that do exactly the same thing for a far lower price. Entry-level Segway knockoffs in Asia cost about $160, while the legitimate version costs about $450.

Still, others have welcomed Amazon’s decision at least to try. Kunal Chopra, chief executive officer of marketplace growth platform provider etailz Inc., told SiliconANGLE that today’s announcement is a “big step” toward holding large-scale serial counterfeiters accountable.

“However, the issues with bad actors, especially those in foreign countries, is that they derive from the fundamental strengths and profitability of using Amazon’s platform to sell counterfeits and are not addressed,” Chopra said. “According to the DHS report on ‘Combating Trafficking in Counterfeit and Pirated Goods,’ the reasons counterfeiters thrive on Amazon and other platforms stem from the ease of creating new accounts and selling counterfeit goods profitably at a small scale.”

That, he said, creates an end-to-end solution that requires no in-country presence with full logistics and payment services along with the ability to market counterfeit goods at a low cost, while taking advantage of the Amazon brand to add legitimacy. “Until these fundamental advantages that drive profit for counterfeiters on Amazon are addressed, the issue will persist,” he said.

Photo: Amazon