Is Amazon Unfairly Copying Products? EU Quizzes Merchants

Regulators ask for details, dates, documentation about Amazon
EU requesting info from merchants as part of preliminary probe

EU Regulators Ask Amazon Merchants About Copycat Products

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By Natalia Drozdiak, Aoife White, and Spencer Soper

September 27, 2018 at 5:58 PM UTC

Updated on

September 28, 2018 at 2:18 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

European Union antitrust regulators are asking whether Amazon.com Inc. unfairly copies popular products sold by rivals on its online marketplace, according to a questionnaire sent to merchants.

In a 16-page form to be filled out by Oct. 9, regulators want to know whether Amazon has in recent years started to sell products under its own brand that are "identical or very similar" to ones merchants have offered on the company’s website and what impact that’s had on their business.