Dive Brief:
- Footwear company Toms has filed a legal complaint against Bloom Trading Inc., accusing the third-party Amazon storefront of trademark infringement and unfair competition, according to court documents.
- Toms argued that Bloom Trading used Toms’ trademarks to sell “used, dirty, poor-quality, potentially counterfeit, and otherwise non-genuine products” on Amazon, “despite advertising these products as new and genuine TOMS products.”
- Attorneys for Toms said negative online customer reviews for Bloom Trading products have damaged the footwear company’s reputation.
Dive Insight:
As resale and e-commerce gains popularity, more brands are cracking down on alleged counterfeit products.
Earlier this year, Chanel won a legal dispute against What Goes Around Comes Around over its use of the Chanel name and trademarks in the luxury reseller’s advertisements. The case was seen as an indicator for the future of authentication and resale.
The new complaint brought by Toms also addresses the sale of alleged fakes and counterfeit products. Other fashion brands have tried to tackle the sale of alleged dupes through the courts, including Christian Louboutin and Prada, while others are implementing their own verification tools.
The case, filed last week in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, includes Amazon user reviews discussing the alleged dupe Toms labeled with the Toms trademark.
The company has a verified seller program for quality control and to “protect itself and consumers from these harms.” This group has both brick-and-mortar and e-commerce retailers, according to the filing. Authorized sellers are also banned from selling Toms products to nonauthorized sellers without written consent from Toms.
Beyond Bloom Trading, the complaint was filed against Arsanious Youssef, the listed CEO, CFO, secretary and agent for the company. It also lists up to 10 unknown defendants for allegedly selling items with the Toms trademark.
A Toms spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to Fashion Dive’s request for comment. Bloom Trading doesn’t yet have an attorney listed in the court filings and could not be reached.
Toms partnered with ThredUp in May 2023 to launch its own resale option. Through the partnership, customers can use the ThredUp platform to resell or recycle their Toms for store credit.
