Nintendo, Amazon pursuing lawsuit involving counterfeit amiibo and more

Polygon picked up on a lawsuit that Nintendo and Amazon filed in October 2023 regarding counterfeit amiibo and video game cartridges. Then this past Tuesday, a new update on the case was shared as Nintendo asked the court for a default judgment of more than $7 million in statutory damages.

According to official documents, it’s claimed that counterfeit dealers agreed not to sell fake goods on Amazon when they were onboarded as third-party sellers. However, they went against that by doing so. Amazon later provided Nintendo with the counterfeit goods for confirmation. These included posters, Animal Crossing and The Legend of Zelda amiibo, and Nintendo DS cartridges.

While the offending accounts have since been terminated, Nintendo and Amazon are accusing the sellers of trademark infringement, false advertising, breach of contract, and violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act. These sellers apparently sold at least $2,343,386 worth of counterfeit Nintendo products between 2019 and 2023.

Lawyers stated in the complaint:

“Nintendo utilizes both internal and external resources to combat counterfeit and infringing products. Nintendo works with a third-party brand protection service vendor on the detection and removal of product listings violating Nintendo’s IP rights that are identified and sold in Amazon’s stores. Nintendo works regularly and collaboratively with Amazon to identify counterfeit Nintendo products and to strengthen automated detection and removal of the products from Amazon’s stores.”

“[The] counterfeiting scheme caused harm to Nintendo’s reputation and goodwill, as well as direct financial harm in the form of lost sales. According to the documents, statutory damages could range from $27,000 to $54,000,000, but calculated the $7,030,158 asking price by tripling the sales of each respective seller. This amount is conservative and on the low end of the range of damages available for Defendants’ wrongdoing, but it is significant enough to provide deterrence against future counterfeiting conduct.”

Nintendo’s goal is to deter the sellers from “abusing Nintendo’s brand” going forward. Currently there has been no judgment on the case, but we’ll keep you updated on any developments.

Thanks to Polygon for the findings above.