A group of sellers have been TROed, but there are still 20,000 related listings for sale

I learned about the infringement risk of the product before the PD, and I had to pay a large settlement fee if I missed the PD...

The seller stepped into the hot IP copyright trap, and the settlement amount was still being discussed after three rounds of negotiations.

Recently, before Amazon’s PD, a group of sellers received TRO notices . The copyrights involved were different, but Yien.com found that most of them were from the same company.

A month ago ( June 26), THE SMILEY COMPANY SPRL, the owner of the SMILEY smiley face emoticon package, commissioned THE BRICKELL IP GROUP, PLLC law firm to file a lawsuit for infringement of the SMILEY smiley face trademark and copyright in Florida, USA.

Different from the past, this time SMILEY has filed multiple lawsuits, with nine involved in the case numbers : 23-cv-61217, 23 - cv-61203, 23-cv-61229, 23-cv-22352, 23-cv-22376, 23-cv-22384, 23-cv-22385, 23-cv-22395, 23-cv-61233 . It can be seen that the scope of the case is wide.

It happened right before the long-awaited PD, and the sellers hesitated between "taking a risk" and "saving their lives", and finally they really didn't dare to take the gamble.

“The product definitely cannot be sold. Although it had not been TROed or removed by Amazon officials at the time, when the operations manager told me that it might infringe on rights, he immediately deleted the listing. I don’t dare to take any chances,” a seller involved in the case told Yien.com.

After the PD, the lawyer appointed by SMILEY officially took action.

An intellectual property practitioner told Ennet that yesterday ( July 20), all the sellers he represented with case number 23-cv-61203 had received TRO subpoenas from the other party's law firm.

The sellers of other case numbers have also entered the settlement negotiation stage. " We have already had three rounds of negotiations, but the settlement amount is still not within our expected affordable range. We can't catch up with the big sales of PD, and we have to pay for the settlement. I have learned a big lesson . "

It is understood that SMILEY has registered word trademarks and image trademarks in multiple categories , involving many products, so the impact of rights protection will be very large .

" On Amazon, there are many sellers involved in related elements, and it is estimated that at least thousands of sellers will be involved ," an intellectual property practitioner told Yien.com .

On Yien.com, under posts about " SMILEY smiley emoticon package infringement " on multiple social platforms, the sellers involved said "Looking for colleagues in trouble, already assembled". Hundreds of uniform "message formations" also revealed that the scope of the rights protection affected a wide range of sellers.

There are still 20,000 related listings on Amazon , and SMILEY copyright is registered in multiple categories.

Since its launch in 1971, SMILEY smiley face emoticon package has continued to be popular for many years and has established a high reputation around the world.

On Amazon, when searching with the keyword " SMILEY " , 20,000 listings popped up, covering major categories including fashion products, household products, outdoor products, office supplies, travel supplies , etc. Specific sub-products include jewelry, shoes, quilts, wallets, hats, clothing, decompression balls, socks, key chains, erasers, notebooks, etc.

The application of this element in products covers almost all categories, and its popularity is obvious to all.

A highly recognizable yellow smiley face composed of yellow circles, small dots and smile curves has brought huge commercial value. From SMILEY 's official website, Yien.com learned that it has cooperated with perfume brands, beauty brands, footwear brands, fashion brands, beverage brands, etc., and even joined hands with British fashion platform ASOS and Galeries Lafayette to launch a series of products.

It is reported that SMILEY company now owns the copyright of the smiley face symbol in more than 100 countries. The word trademark is SMILEY , and the smiley face graphic trademark has also been registered in multiple categories, such as daily chemical products, fitness equipment, 3C, toys, jewelry and watches, clothing, shoes and hats , etc. In addition, multiple copyrights have also been registered .

This is not the first time that SMILEY has protected its trademark.

In 2017, SMILEY filed an infringement lawsuit against Amazon, claiming that the platform sold unauthorized products with the SMILEY trademark and that the product quality did not meet SMILEY's standards, which not only infringed its intellectual property rights but also had a negative impact on its brand image . In the end, the lawsuit ended with Amazon paying SMILEY compensation .

In recent years, SMILEY has been frequently involved in infringement lawsuits, especially as online shopping channels have become increasingly popular, and related infringements have also increased.

The nine lawsuits involved were all registered trademarks in the United States, but in China, the plaintiff companies had also registered their trademarks with domestic customs.

In the past two years, Chinese customs has also intercepted many batches of products suspected of counterfeiting the SMILEY smiley face emoticon trademark , and the Shanghai Market Supervision Administration has also imposed administrative penalties on several infringing companies.

As for this rights protection incident, the freezing of different case numbers is still in progress. Sellers should pay attention to screening their product listings to avoid using related word trademarks . At the same time, the product appearance and packaging should also be careful to avoid SMILEY smiley face emoticons , and even similar ones should be used with caution, " similar smiley faces may be sued ."

IP has become a "hard-hit area" for infringement. The more popular it is, the more serious the infringement.

For sellers, product innovation must follow market demand and popular trends, which also leads to the fact that once an IP or film or TV show quickly becomes popular in a short period of time, they subconsciously use related elements, which happens to fall into the infringement trap. The surrounding market is becoming increasingly hot, making it a "hard-hit area" for infringement in recent years.

NARUTO​

Since its serialization in 1999 , Naruto has been loved by comic fans all over the world . As one of the most popular comics in the world, it has been the subject of numerous infringement incidents over the years. In May this year, the brand owner TV Tokyo Corporation commissioned HSP to file an infringement lawsuit, with the case number 23-cv-2982 .

It is reported that TV Tokyo has registered a US trademark for Naruto with registration number 3229574. The copyright protection covers television and film programs, publications, fashion categories, toys, etc., as well as the "NARUTO" word mark in Category 41 of the international classification .

On Amazon, there are 20,000 listings with keywords related to "NARUTO" , which shows how popular it is.

The Smurfs

In February this year , Studio Peyo SA, the brand owner of the Belgian comic book "The Smurfs", filed a lawsuit for trademark infringement and copyright . GBC Law Firm represented the case, case number 23-cv-00999, and has now filed 11 cases in total .

It is reported that the Smurfs ' trademark registration categories are numerous, involving advertising sales, medicine , daily chemical products , etc. Without authorization, its word trademark The Smurfs, Smurfs and the Smurfs image cannot be used without authorization .

EMOJI

EMOJI emoticons are indispensable in our daily online life, and its brand owner EMOJI COMPANY GMBH has registered 35 categories of trademarks in more than 100 countries and regions around the world, such as EMOJI, ICONZ, SUPERMOJIS, THE EMOTICONZ, etc. Its emoticons are also protected by copyright law.

On platforms such as Amazon, there are many listings of clothes, socks, quilts, etc. with EMOJI-related emoticon designs . In December last year , EMOJI COMPANY GMBH commissioned HSP Law Firm to initiate trademark infringement and copyright infringement.

Yellow Duck, Paw Patrol, Miffy Rabbit, Disney Princesses ... These are all popular IPs with many supporters around the world and a very broad consumer market, but their trademarks, patents, and copyrights have all been applied for protection . Sellers should use related elements with caution and not be like the sellers mentioned above, who have negotiated the settlement money round after round but still cannot reach an affordable range.

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