Amazon, Nintendo seek $7M judgment in counterfeit amiibo lawsuit

Amazon and Nintendo jointly filed a lawsuit in October 2023 against a group of counterfeit Nintendo sellers that the company said illegally sold fake amiibo and video game cartridges. Though the companies eventually learned the identities of the sellers, the alleged counterfeit sellers failed to respond to the lawsuit; Amazon and Nintendo filed documents on Tuesday asking the court for a default judgment of more than $7 million in statutory damages, according to court documents. The original complaint alleged that the counterfeit dealers agreed not to sell fake goods on Amazon when they signed on as third-party sellers — but sold a number of different fake Nintendo products anyway. The counterfeit goods, which Amazon sent to Nintendo to confirm as counterfeit, include posters, Animal Crossing and The Legend of Zelda amiibo cards, and Nintendo DS cartridges, among other items across several different selling accounts. Amiibo cards, like amiibo figures, can be scanned using the Nintendo Switch console to earn rewards or add characters to a game. “Nintendo utilizes both internal and external resources to combat counterfeit and infringing products,” lawyers wrote in the complaint. “Nintendo works with a third-party brand protection service vendor on the detection and removal of product listings violating Nintendo’s IP rights that are identified and sold in Amazon’s stores. Nintendo works regularly and collaboratively with Amazon to identify counterfeit Nintendo products and to strengthen automated detection and removal of the products from Amazon’s stores.” Amazon has since shut down the accounts, according to the lawsuit. Amazon and Nintendo are accusing the sellers of trademark infringement, false advertising, breach of contract, and violation of the Washington Consumer Protection Act. The companies alleged in new documents filed Tuesday that the group of sellers sold at least $2,343,386 worth of fake Nintendo stuff. “[The] counterfeiting scheme caused harm to Nintendo’s reputation and goodwill, as well as direct financial harm in the form of lost sales,” lawyers wrote in a document trying to convince the court to enter a default judgment in Amazon and Nintendo’s favor. According to the documents, statutory damages could range from $27,000 to $54,000,000, but calculated the $7,030,158 asking price by tripling the sales of each respective seller. “This amount is conservative and on the low end of the range of damages available for Defendants’ wrongdoing, but it is significant enough to provide deterrence against future counterfeiting conduct,” lawyers wrote. Nintendo and its lawyers hope the fine will deter the sellers from “abusing Nintendo’s brand” in the future. Amazon and Nintendo will have to await the court’s decision on the default judgment. Selling counterfeit Nintendo goods — and video game stuff, in general — is big business, and one that Nintendo and international governments take great care to snuff out. In 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection in San Juan announced it had seized 100 retro Nintendo handheld consoles valued at $326,000. That’s a smaller scale seizure compared to Italian police’s massive haul in 2024, when it broke up a counterfeit retro video game console ring that held more than $50 million in fake consoles. Nine people were arrested in connection to the trafficking group.