Deceptive Patterns
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Amazon Japan ordered to pay 35 mil. yen for allowing listing of fakes

Author
Mainichi Japan
Date
25 Apr 2025
Focus
Law & Policy
Category
Journalist or Media

The focus of the trial at the Tokyo District Court was on the degree of obligation Amazon Japan G.K. has to police listings, and how much effort it must make to identify and remove counterfeit goods.

The Tokyo District Court on Friday ordered Amazon Japan to pay ¥35 million in damages to a Japanese distributor of a medical device, ruling that the platform’s failure to remove Chinese counterfeit products — which appeared on the site as if they were the same product — led to a loss in sales. […] Amazon’s website has a system called “shared listings” where multiple sellers listing the same product are shown on a single product page. While it allows users to compare vendor prices at a glance, it can lead to issues like counterfeit items being sold under legitimate listings, harming both the original sellers and the manufacturer.