Regulators mull over Amazons alleged confusion between shoppers and search results

A three-judge panel of the Appeals Court of the Ninth Circuit heard arguments in April, 2015 and held that a jury could find that Amazon had created a likelihood of confusion under an initial interest confusion theory by responding to a search request with a page showing MTM Special Ops three times above a search result displaying similar watches manufactured by MTMs competitors, ecommercebytes.com reports.

MTM does not make its watches available for sale on Amazon and sued the marketplace in 2011 for its use of its brand. One judge dissented writing that, because Amazons search result clearly labeled the name and manufacturer of each product offered for sale, and even included photographs of the watches, no reasonably prudent shopper accustomed to shopping online would be confused as to the source of the products. The majority cited examples of Amazon practices that they said might provide a jury with insight as to Amazons intent to confuse.

The following excerpt, cited by the source, writes that, as of June 26, 2015, Amazon hosts a static webpage claiming: At Amazon.com, we not only have a large collection of mtm special ops watch products (untrue), but also a comprehensive set of reviews from our customers. Below weve selected a subset of mtm special ops watch products and the corresponding reviews to help you do better research, and choose the product that best suits your needs.

Asked for comment, Amazon spokesperson Erik Fairleigh told EcommerceBytes, denied to comment.The Court, however, claimed that MTMs competitors products appear in the Amazon search query response in part because Amazons search algorithm responds to its customers behavior using a Behavior Based Search technology (BBS), which uses data about what customers view and purchase after searching certain terms. It goes on to discuss the issue, and writes, Whether a particular result appears because of BBS or a traditional search of matching terms is not evident from the matches, and the relevant products (which are based on search terms) and recommended products (based on BBS) are mingled together., the source cites.