American Eagle Outfitters (NYSE:AEO) is suing Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) for trademark infringement, alleging the e-commerce giant used branding from its Aerie clothing line in search results, leading consumers to “inferior quality knock-offs.”
In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, American Eagle accused Amazon of “flagrant, unauthorized use” of the Aerie and Offline by Aerie trademarks on its site to deceive shoppers into believing the products were available on Amazon, drive traffic to its platform and sell competing merchandise. The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
American Eagle said it didn’t authorize Amazon to sell products from its Aerie line of yoga pants, lingerie, loungewear and other attire, adding that it “intentionally declined so Aerie can foster its own brand identity and customer experience.” American Eagle, founded in 1977, launched the Aerie brand in 2006.
A shopper searching for Aerie products on Google will see sponsored and organic links to Amazon’s website, the lawsuit says. Clicking on a link leads to an Amazon webpage that “displays only knock-offs and ‘dupes’” of Aerie products, including sweatshirts and exercise shorts, American Eagle alleges. The company said it notified Amazon “over a month ago” of the infringing products, but says they were relabeled with misspellings of its Aerie trademarks, including “Aeries,” “Arie” or “Aries.”
Shares in American Eagle captured 40 cents, or 1.9%, to $21.07 Thursday morning, while those for Amazon hesitated six cents to $192.47.
