Planet Green, one of the last U.S. cartridge remanufacturers, is asking the Supreme Court to strip Amazon of legal protections it says allow counterfeit and falsely labelled cartridges to flood the market unchecked.
The above image is evidence of a test buy Planet Green presented to Amazon about the fraudulent activity that was being conducted by sellers on its platform.
Planet Green Cartridges, one of the last remaining U.S. remanufacturers of printer cartridges, has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to review Amazon’s legal immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.
The move follows a series of legal setbacks for Planet Green, which had previously sued Amazon for $500 million in damages. That case was dismissed, and the company’s appeal was also rejected. Now, in what may be a final legal effort, Planet Green has filed Supreme Court petition #23-4434, arguing that Amazon is knowingly allowing and profiting from the sale of cartridges falsely advertised as “remanufactured”.
The company claims that many of the cartridges sold through Amazon are, in fact, newly built replicas of OEM cartridges, deliberately mislabelled to evade intellectual property scrutiny and to appeal to environmentally conscious consumers. According to Planet Green, the mislabelling undermines legitimate remanufacturers and deceives the public.
Planet Green alleges that despite providing Amazon with detailed evidence of the false listings, the platform refused to take meaningful action. “We went to great lengths to avoid litigation,” stated Sean Levi, Founder and CEO of Planet Green. “We had hoped Amazon would take corrective action once we made them aware of the 45 illicit brands and their sellers we named in our lawsuit. It is nearly impossible for any U.S. company to hold all unlawful Amazon sellers accountable who operate outside U.S. jurisdiction.”
The petition centres on whether Section 230 protects Amazon from civil claims when it knowingly facilitates and profits from false or misleading product listings. The company argues that Amazon’s conduct falls outside the intended scope of the statute’s protections, which were designed to encourage moderation of harmful content, not to enable online marketplaces to profit from fraud.
“This case tests whether e-commerce giants like Amazon can claim Section 230 immunity when they are sued for actively participating in the sale of unlawful and misrepresented products,” said John Ulin, counsel for Planet Green at TroyGould. “The sales are clearly false advertising and unfair competition, but courts have given internet platforms a free pass under Section 230 even when they knowingly spread false product claims. The statute does not support giving internet giants like Amazon immunity when they knowingly support and profit from illegal sales. We are asking the Supreme Court to tell the lower courts that they have gotten it wrong and that Section 230 does not immunise companies like Amazon from the consequences of knowing participation in unlawful conduct.”
Two key legal questions are posed in the petition:
- Does Section 230 confer immunity when platforms knowingly promote, sell and profit from misrepresented products?
- Does it also protect platform-generated conduct such as algorithmic promotion and recommendation?
Planet Green argues that Amazon’s use of algorithms to promote these cartridges and its decision to fulfil and distribute the goods through its own warehousing operations renders it more than a passive intermediary. “By continuing to host and distribute the misrepresented products after being notified, Amazon has weaponised the statute as a shield for profiting from illicit goods at the expense of consumers and law-abiding U.S. businesses,” Ulin explained.
The commercial implications are significant. Annual sales of cartridges labelled as remanufactured on Amazon are estimated to exceed $3 billion (£2.4 billion / €2.8 billion). Planet Green says this inflow of falsely labelled imports has decimated the once-thriving U.S. remanufacturing sector.
Unlike OEM take-back schemes or local reuse operations, many overseas sellers offer no sustainable disposal solutions. An estimated 375 million used cartridges end up in U.S. landfills each year.
“No matter how this legal battle ends, we will not stop exposing unfair competition in the marketplace,” added Levi. “The public needs to understand the disadvantage American companies face and the hypocrisy of Amazon’s rhetoric about sustainability and fighting counterfeit products.”
If the Supreme Court agrees to hear the case, it could mark a turning point for how online marketplaces are held accountable for the goods they facilitate and profit from. “Congress never intended Section 230 to shield billion-dollar platforms that knowingly enable fraud,” stated Levi. “If the courts fail to act, lawmakers must—otherwise, we risk surrendering our markets to unlawful sellers operating outside U.S. jurisdiction, while honest American businesses are left to die.”
