Birkenstock goes legal, says nein to Amazon

A German court has barred Amazon from pulling in customers who misspell German sandal maker Birkenstock in their Google searches. The e-tailer has been accused of booking variants like Brikenstock, Bierkenstock and Birkenstok in Google AdWords, sparking search results for shoes sold on Amazon.com.

Birkenstock said it feared shoppers might buy low-quality counterfeits through Amazon that would damage its reputation. Its injunction was first reported by Der Spiegel. “For us, Amazon is complicit,” Birkenstock’s Chief Oliver Reichert told the German magazine. 

A spokesman for Amazon said: “We prohibit the sale of fraudulent products. We work diligently with vendors, sellers and rights owners to detect and prevent fraudulent products reaching our marketplace.”