Unauthorized third-party sellers are a thorn in the side of many beauty brands some are selling gray market goods but others pose a larger problem hawking counterfeit beauty products. Despite Amazon’s policies and procedures, it remains a big problem.

KF Beauty is one of the more than 350,000 brands to enroll in Brand Registry, a free service from Amazon that gives owners access to a powerful set of tools to help them manage and protect their brand and intellectual property rights and report potentially infringing products.

Last week Amazon and KF Beauty jointly filed a lawsuit against four companies and 16 individuals for counterfeiting KF Beauty’s WUNDER2 beauty products including its hero product WUNDERBROW and offering the infringing products for sale in Amazon’s stores, in violation of Amazon’s policies and KF Beauty’s intellectual property rights and various trademarks.

The lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington and alleges the defendants conspired and operated in concert with each other to counterfeit KF Beauty’s products. The defendants operated a shell company in Wyoming and at least one of the individual defendants was identified as residing in Shenzhen, China. If the defendants are found liable and a judgment is collected, KF Beauty will receive the proceeds. Amazon refunded the purchases of all customers who received counterfeit KF Beauty products.

‘’It is of paramount importance that our customers can purchase KF Beauty cosmetics with confidence, knowing that they will always receive authentic, high-quality products. Our closely monitored and regulated processes – from product development to manufacturing to distribution – are put in place to ensure customers receive carefully controlled products that meet the highest standards. We greatly appreciate our close relationship with Amazon as a responsible trading partner, and their support in this matter has allowed KF Beauty to protect our WUNDER2 brand, our products, and our joint customers, delivering on our promise of putting our customers first,” said Agnes Hjelmer, CEO of KF Beauty.

Amazon has gone on record strictly prohibiting counterfeit products and in 2019 invested more than $500 million to protect customers and brands from fraud, abuse, and counterfeit. In June 2020, Amazon launched its Counterfeit Crime Unit (CCU), a global team with specialized experience in investigating and bringing legal action against bad actors. The Amazon CCU works with brands, as it did with KF Beauty, and supports law enforcement as they pursue counterfeiters.

“The majority of sellers in our store are law-abiding entrepreneurs, but we will take aggressive action to protect customers, brands, and our store from counterfeiters. Amazon and KF Beauty are holding these companies and individuals accountable and we appreciate the close cooperation we’ve had in this investigation,” said Cristina Posa, Associate General Counsel and Director, Amazon Counterfeit Crimes Unit.