In addition to being the go-to place for online shopping, Amazon has also become a leader in online reviews. With thousands of people posting millions of reviews, many shoppers come to Amazon to see what others have said about a product before they purchase it. This is true even when they don’t end up purchasing it from Amazon. Some of the reviews have been so good that they have gone viral on their own (think three wolf moon t-shirt).
Having reviews on products has always been a great way to promote sales too, which is why so many marketers like to put up reviews for the products they sell. In fact, it has created a whole industry where people will make reviews of different products and services to sell to marketers. Amazon, however, is hoping to put that to an end. They filed a lawsuit in Seattle’s King County Superior Court against one of the leading amazon review providers, buyazonreviews.com.
This is the first actual lawsuit against review creators and according to reports, the defendants will be charged with trademark violations, deceptive acts and unfair competition violations, among other things.
Amazon’s lawsuit states that, “Defendants are misleading Amazon’s customers and tarnishing Amazon’s brand for their own profit and the profit of a handful of dishonest sellers and manufacturers. Amazon is bringing this action to protect its customers from this misconduct, by stopping Defendants and disrupting the marketplace in which they participate.”
An unnamed owner of other review pages has also been named in the suit. The owner of buyamazonreviews.com, bayreviews.net and buyreviewsnow.com is also a defendant.
This is certainly an important case to follow as marketers have long been using fake reviews to promote their products and services, and especially to sell items as affiliates to make their commissions. If Amazon wins the case, it could mean some fairly significant changes to the way this industry conducts their marketing.
