Court Dismisses Planet Green’s $500 Million Lawsuit Against Amazon

Last week, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California dismissed Planet Green Cartridges’ $500 million lawsuit against ecommerce giant Amazon.

Planet Green, which is based in Chatsworth, California, filed its lawsuit in August 2023. The lawsuit alleged that Amazon and various other companies have destroyed the U.S. printer-cartridge remanufacturing industry by allowing various companies, mostly Chinese, to falsely advertise newly built printer cartridges as remanufactured or recycled cartridges. The result, it said, has been hundreds of millions worth of lost sales and damages for the U.S. remanufactured printer-cartridge industry,

In its lawsuit, Planet Green said it’s one of the last remaining printer-cartridge remanufacturers in the U.S., and that the U.S. was once “the epicenter of thousands of printer cartridge remanufacturers, suppliers, and resellers.” By the mid-2000s, the U.S.  printer-cartridge remanufacturing grew into an estimated $7 billion industry, with thousands of U.S. companies that included remanufacturers, used-cartridge collectors, suppliers, resellers, trade publications, and expos.  “Now,” the lawsuit stated, “the U.S. remanufacturing industry is on the verge of extinction.”

The company said that that brands such as Ankink, GPC Image, and Valker, typically based in China, sold new-built printer cartridges but falsely advertised them as being OEM printer cartridges that had been remanufactured. It said this harmed both customers, who were deceived, and legitimate cartridge remanufacturers.

The court sided with Amazon, however, stating Amazon is immune under laws for content posted by third parties. For instance, under Section 230 of the U.S. Communications Decency Act, enterprises are protected from liability for third-party content.

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August 2023: U.S. Cartridge Remanufacturer Sues Amazon for Millions, Alleges False Advertising