Amazon and Canon File Joint Lawsuit Against Counterfeit Toner Cartridges

Amazon and Canon have joined forces to file a lawsuit against 18 vendors allegedly selling counterfeit toner cartridges on the Amazon store.

The complaint has been filed in the Western District of Washington alleging the accounts infringe on Canon’s trademark rights.

This is not the first time Amazon and Canon have teamed up in this way as the two corporate companies attempt to stem the scourge of counterfeit goods. In May 2023, Amazon and Canon targeted a large group of “bad actors” that the two companies said sold counterfeit camera batteries and chargers to unsuspecting buyers.

Canon says, per Digital Camera World, that batteries, printer ink, and toner are all products likely to be counterfeited thanks to the relative ease of production and potential for large profits.

For its part, Canon has been particularly aggressive in going after counterfeiters and has been doing so for some time. The company has been producing public service announcement-style videos and web pages aimed at warning customers about counterfeit batteries as far back as 2014. In 2020, Canon won a pivotal lawsuit against two eBay users who were selling counterfeit batteries and last year, Canon successfully stopped a major way counterfeit batteries enter the market through a targeted settlement with a major shipping and fulfillment company that supplied them to the market.

“Canon aggressively pursues counterfeiters in the United States and around the world to protect its customers from fake and potentially unsafe products, which unlawfully use the Canon name, as well as to protect the value, trusted reputation, and loyalty that the Canon brand has acquired over decades in producing high-quality, safe, and reliable products,” Canon says it a press release.

“Damages due to counterfeit goods on e-commerce websites are increasing in proportion to the growth of the e-commerce market, and Canon and Amazon are collaborating in fighting against counterfeiters and protecting both of our customers. This joint lawsuit was filed as a part of our collaboration.”

Counterfeit products are a big problem on Amazon and while the company can successfully deal with them, the broader issue of fake or scam products overall is a big deal and is challenging to address. There are tons of products listed on Amazon that are quite literally scams and, unfortunately, there is no sure-fire way to deal with all of them.