Amazon Seller's Blatant Theft and Alteration of Fitness Brand's Video Sparks Outrage

Cassey Ho, founder of Popflex and Blogilates, has found herself in a disturbing situation where Amazon sellers have stolen and altered her product videos. The alteration involves using AI to change her face, leading to concerns about copyright infringement and ethical violations.

Cassey Ho, the founder and CEO of fitness brand Blogilates and athletic wear company Popflex, has experienced a troubling incident involving an Amazon seller's blatant theft and alteration of her product video. The incident, which was brought to light by one of Ho's followers, involved the unauthorized use of a video featuring Ho in a listing for a knock-off version of her patented Popflex Pirouette Skort.

Upon discovering the unauthorized use of her video on Amazon, Ho was shocked and disturbed to find that the seller had altered her face using artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The alteration involved replacing Ho's face with that of a different model, a move that Ho believes was done to avoid detection by Amazon's copyright infringement detection systems.

The counterfeit Amazon listing offered the knock-off version of Ho's Pirouette Skort at a cheaper price than the original Popflex skort. However, the listing shamelessly featured Ho's own photos and video of her product, with the only noticeable alteration being the AI-generated face swap.

Ho speculates that the seller, known as Begoing, used reverse-deepfake technology to alter her face in the video. She explains that this technique involves removing her face from the video and replacing it with a different face. Ho believes that the seller employed this method to make it more difficult for Amazon's AI robots to detect the copyright infringement, as the facial difference would make the videos appear distinct to a machine.

In addition to the unauthorized alteration of her video, Ho has also observed instances of sellers Photoshopping models in her photos to subtly alter their appearance, again with the intent of evading detection. She expresses frustration over the time-consuming process she must endure to report and remove counterfeit items from Amazon. Each report requires filling out a form and waiting for a response from Amazon, a process that can become tedious when dealing with multiple dupe listings on a daily basis.

The issue of counterfeit products on Amazon has become a significant challenge for small businesses and independent designers like Ho. She notes that Amazon offers affordable alternatives to high-end products but emphasizes that this should not come at the expense of violating intellectual property rights. Ho believes that Amazon's policies need to be revised to make it easier for independent designers to combat counterfeit products and harder for sellers to list knock-off items.

As a passionate designer who actively engages with her followers on social media, Ho expresses concern over the disrespectful attitude towards artists and creators that the prevalence of dupes fosters. She emphasizes that without original designers, there would be no products for counterfeiters to copy and that customers should value the originality and hard work that goes into creating authentic designs.

Ho has reached out to Amazon's Counterfeit Crimes Unit but has not received a response. She remains hopeful that Amazon will take action to address the issue of counterfeit products on its platform. In the meantime, she continues to work with her small team to diligently report and remove counterfeit listings while also raising awareness about the challenges faced by independent designers in the age of rampant counterfeiting.