Today, the Trump Organization filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Florida. They’re suing a handful of unspecified merchants for selling counterfeit wares that infringe on the Trump brand. The organization claims that in doing so, these merchants are peddling “substandard knock-offs” of products associated with former president Donald Trump. These products range from calendars to toilet paper to greeting cards.
The lawsuit is particularly poignant as it focuses on dubious sales of counterfeit Trump-branded merchandise on popular online marketplaces, such as Amazon, Walmart, and eBay. The Trump Organization is currently suing in order to prevent these unauthorized sales from occurring. First, they are concerned about brand integrity since these counterfeit products are deceiving consumers and degrading the reputation of their authentic goods.
Sales of Trump-branded merchandise have skyrocketed in recent months, especially since his re-emergence onto the political scene, both figuratively and literally. According to news reports, independent Amazon sellers netted about $140 million from pro- and anti-Trump wares in the run-up to last year’s election. Whatever the case may be, this explosion in sales serves to underscore the importance of one particular brand—the Trump brand—in the current political marketplace.
The complaint, which the Trump Organization filed in response to continued trademark infringement. Though it doesn’t call out specific retailers, it notes that an array of items with “Trump” and “Trump 2028,” usually with American flags in the designs, have been hitting the shelves. The association is looking to review merchandise such as coffee mugs, hats, t-shirts and sweatshirts. They argue that these products mislead consumers as to their genuine nature.
“By selling counterfeit products that purport to be genuine and authorized products using the TRUMP trademarks, defendants cause confusion and deception in the marketplace.” – The Trump Organization complaint