Washington, DC - Energy and Commerce Committee Republican Leader Greg Walden (R-OR), Consumer Protection and Commerce Subcommittee Republican Leader Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), and Energy and Commerce Republican Rep. Richard Hudson (R-NC) wrote to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, eBay CEO Jamie Iannone, and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg asking more than a dozen questions regarding the companies’ policies to address the sale of counterfeit products and goods, specifically from China, on their third-party marketplace platforms.
“There appears to be a connection between the proliferation of online e-commerce and third-party marketplace platforms and the increase in counterfeit sales. OECD reports that ‘E-commerce platforms represent ideal storefronts for counterfeits and provide powerful platform[s] for counterfeiters.’ Additionally, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that e-commerce has ‘contributed to a shift in the sale of counterfeit goods with…counterfeiters producing a wider variety of goods that may be sold on websites alongside authentic products.’ Unsurprisingly, China is a significant threat when it comes to counterfeit goods. In fact, last year, more than 8 of every 10 counterfeit products seized at U.S. borders came from China or Hong Kong. OECD has also found that China appears to be ‘the single largest producing market’ of counterfeit products," Walden, Rodgers, and Hudson wrote.
The letter to Amazon can be found HERE. The letter to eBay can be found HERE. The letter to Facebook can be found HERE.
