German shoemaker withdraws products from Amazon: report

BERLIN, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Germany's largest shoe manufacturer Birkenstock has terminated its contract with U.S. e-commerce giant Amazon, the mass-market daily Bild reported on Sunday.

The newspaper cited an internal source as saying that Birkenstock had "decided to cease direct delivery to Amazon in Europe entirely by the 1st of January 2018".

The company was reacting to "continued trade mark infringements" as suppliers of fake Birkenstock shoes continued to be listed on Amazon's platform, according to the report.

"The world's largest online retailer is not making what we would deem to be sufficient efforts to preserve a relationship of trust and protect our customers from being misled," a Birkenstock statement said on Monday, cited by Bild.

Birkenstock executives said in contrast to Amazon, other e-commerce firms which sell their shoes had successfully prevented trademark infringements.

In 2016, Birkenstock had cancelled its contract with the U.S. branch of Amazon out of concerns that its brand was not being adequately protected against an "abundance of fake products". In turn, Amazon attempted to evade the boycott by shoring up its supply from other U.S. wholesalers.

However, a ruling by the European Court of Justice on Dec. 6 confirmed the right of producers of luxury products to forbid trading partners to sell produce via third party platforms, such as Amazon, to protect a firm's image of exclusivity.

Amazon refused to comment on its "relationships with business partners", but insisted that it "did not tolerate any fake products".

Birkenstock was established in 1774 and has been owned by the same family for six generations. The Neustadt/Wied-based firm employs 3,500 staff and sells around 25 million pairs of shoes per year. Enditem