German court tells Amazon to stop luring in people who cant spell Birkenstock
- Tuesday, January 2nd, 2018
- Share this article:
A German court has ruled that Amazon must stop luring internet shoppers to its marketplace that have misspelt the name of popular German sandal maker Birkenstock.
The injunction relates to Amazon allegedly listing variations of ‘Birkenstock’ as keywords on Google AdWords. These variations would lead shoppers to Birkenstock footwear sold on Amazon.
Birkenstock went to the district court in Dusseldorf over fears that the use of keyword variations would lead consumers to buy counterfeit versions of its products through Amazon, thus ruining the company’s reputation.
Birkenstock has already ended its relationship with Amazon in the US, and has said it will do the same in Europe over the eCommerce giant’s failure to prevent the sales of counterfeit versions of the popular footwear.
“Amazon prohibits the sale of fraudulent products,” an Amazon spokesperson told Reuters. “We work diligently with vendors, sellers and rights owners to detect and prevent fraudulent products reaching our marketplace.”