Mandatory disclosure of country of origin is a liability trap – small sellers will make mistakes and be liable under false advertising

Country of Origin Problems. The mandatory reporting of products’ country of origin is a liability trap. The bill excludes the smallest sellers from making this disclosure, but plenty of small-scale sellers will be obligated nonetheless, and they (and even bigger players) are sure to botch this because the law is confusing and the information won’t always be available to resellers. Any error on country-of-origin disclosures sets up the third-party sellers for false advertising claims. (Per Malwarebytes, the online marketplace should qualify for Section 230 protection for the Lanham Act false advertising claims). This gives trademark owners a second way of targeting third-party sellers; even if those sellers aren’t engaging in counterfeiting or any trademark infringement at all, country-of-origin false advertising claims can still be weaponized to drive them out of the marketplace.