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Reuters reports that in the first ever suit of its kind from Amazon, the online retailer has sued four websites to stop them from selling fake, positive product reviews. The suit accuses Jay Gentile of California and websites that operate as buyamazonreviews.com and buyazonreviews.com, among others, of trademark infringement, false advertising and violations of the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act and the Washington Consumer Protection Act. Amazon says the defendants are misleading customers, and through their activity generating improper profit for themselves and a "handful" of dishonest sellers and manufacturers. Amazon says the defendants have caused reviews to be posted on its website intermittently, through a "slow drip" designed to evade its detection systems, at a typical cost of $19 to $22 per review. "While small in number, these reviews threaten to undermine the trust that customers, and the vast majority of sellers and manufacturers, place in Amazon, thereby tarnishing Amazon’s brand."
Mark Collins, the owner of buyamazonreviews.com, denies Amazon’s claims and says the site simply offers to help Amazon’s third-party sellers get reviews. Collins defended his business, writing that his website operates as a “middleman,” connecting sellers with buyers willing to write reviews. The sellers provide reviewers with discounted items. But he said there are no restriction on the type of review they can post. “We are not selling fake reviews. however we do provide Unbiased and Honest reviews on all the products,” Collins wrote. “And this is not illegal at all.”
(Score: 3, Interesting) by MrGuy on Friday April 10 2015, @02:23PM
You're assuming fraud is provable, which implies knowing intent to deceive.
Let's say I'm running this service. Here's how I spin it. I note that a lot of products (especially new ones or niche products) don't have reviews. I offer a service to review products and post the outcome of those reviews on Amazon. Just like consumer reports or other third party reviewers offer. Because the time spent reviewing the product and posting the reviews take time, we charge a fee for this service. Nothing inherently illegal so far.
Now, let's go to the review posting. I do NOT buy the item. I post a review with a 5 star rating, reading "A great solution to the problem!" Is this a "fraudulent" review? No, I didn't buy the item, but Amazon already tells you that - I'm NOT a "verified" purchaser. I could argue that I've read the specs on the item concerned, and in my opinion, the item's specs make it a good solution to the problem it's trying to solve. I never claimed it "I bought 12 and use them all the time!" I just stated an opinion.
You can say my opinion is "for sale," or you can say that, after being hired to be an independent reviewer, I stated what I my opinion actually is. "Hey, you give an awful lot of 5 star reviews!" Well, I tend to only be hired by people who are confident in their high-quality products. Unless you can prove I specifically offered specific content for sale (for example, a price list for a 4-star vs. 5-star review), it's very hard to prove my reviews are "deceptive."
Maybe you could argue the fact that I was paid by the seller should have been disclosed. It's not clear to me (IANAL) that such a failure rises to the level of fraud - there are plenty of people who publish "scientific" studies who don't disclose who are funding them, for example.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DeathMonkey on Friday April 10 2015, @05:46PM
I don't think Amazon would even have standing for a fraud case. People who buy a product based on a false review would be the ones that were defrauded.
Fraud [thefreedictionary.com]
A false representation of a matter of fact—whether by words or by conduct, by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment of what should have been disclosed—that deceives and is intended to deceive another so that the individual will act upon it to her or his legal injury.
Amazon doesn't act on the review, customers do.