Throughout this year, I've noticed an increase in lawsuits brands are filing aga
By Chris McCabe · August 7, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
Throughout this year, I've noticed an increase in lawsuits brands are filing against each other citing conflicts centered around Amazon's marketplace.
There's so much at stake now, fees rising, margins shrinking, and missteps costing you twice as much as they used to.
What if another brand files suit against you, and your legal representation is...shall we say, light? What if you need an Amazon expert witness and you grab the wrong type of consultant?
I expect more lawsuits to come throughout this year and next while the surging "marketplace consolidation" keeps ramping up.
Brands see lower margins and sometimes declining sales on Amazon as abuse rises or sales flatten out, or both.
If there are legal angles to play, legit or otherwise, brands will play them.
And one thing I've learned in the past 11 years in this space is that almost everyone refers to themselves as an "Amazon expert" to compose expert witness reports, declarations, or to work on witness rebuttal statements.
A paper thin Amazon Expert can sink your Amazon lawsuit. I was hired on some recent cases where from the outset, it was clear that the other side didn't have their act together.
In legal cases involving Amazon, the caliber of expertise your witness provides could make or break it, or lead the other side to settle or to go forward, depending on the particulars.
Where I see a recurring, fatal pitfall: The generalist trap.
Some attorneys unfamiliar with the space hire based on a few podcast appearances or simply "Amazon" on their resume.
But hiring an expert who worked in Vendor, for example, to testify on an Account Health or IP enforcement case is like hiring a cardiologist to perform brain surgery. They’re both doctors, but the specialization matters.
If the case is central to internal enforcement logic, but the expert never worked in Seller investigations, compliance teams, or brand registry troubleshooting, they will just parrot something they heard or saw someone else handle.
If they don't know the "why" behind automation or the manual review processes, they may not know the what, either.
We already see experts who overestimate or overstate their knowledge of current internal workflows who hurt brands with mistakes.
But if they can’t explain how Amazon evolved in 2026, their testimony will crumble under any degree of analysis.
An expert witness needs to do more than explain how to open a ticket. They must be able to dissect policy and provide the court and a client with a roadmap of how the platform actually functions behind the curtain.
If such a witness isn't properly scrutinized by the legal team before they are deposed, they become a liability. When (usually) millions of dollars in damages are on the line, "knowing" Amazon isn't enough.
You need a witness who has lived the specific policies litigated in that lawsuit and someone who can speak to the nuance of how decisions are actually made, not just how they appear in a help page link.