A product that sold for $230,000 was removed from the shelves! Cross-border infringement is entering a high-incidence period

In the entire cross-border e-commerce chain, problems may occur in various links such as logistics and after-sales, but the biggest risk factor lies in the source product selection. If the product itself has infringement issues, the more the seller sells, the greater the trouble will be.

Recently, the industry has entered a high incidence period of infringement incidents. At the least, the product is suspended from sale, and at the worst, the balance is frozen and the account status is soaring. So how to reduce the probability of infringement? After being sued for infringement, how to deal with it to minimize the loss? What are the new infringing products recently ... Sellers should know about it in case of emergency.

Infringement is high, 4 sellers posted in one day

Infringement is a common but difficult problem in the industry. In various infringement cases, few people can get away with it unscathed. The sellers involved often have to spend a lot of money to settle or abandon their accounts, resulting in heavy losses. In the long run, the industry loses confidence before the fight once it steps into the infringement pit. In addition, most lawsuits involve foreign laws and court hearings in different places, so the sellers involved will inevitably be confused.

Recently, there have been numerous infringement incidents in the industry, and it seems to have reached a peak. On the industry forum, four infringement help posts became popular on the day, for different reasons.

(Photo source /Knowing everything)

One of the sellers said that last week he received an email from Amazon notifying him that his product infringed an invention patent. The relevant products have been removed from the shelves. Although his account has not been blocked, his funds are being frozen. It is speculated that the sales volume is frozen for each item sent out. The email included the invention patent number and the email address of the right holder. After checking, the seller confirmed that the patent really exists. Although there are some differences between his products, the functionality of the invention patent is difficult to determine and it is not easy to get out of it.

This is an important product of the company, with sales reaching 230,000 US dollars. Currently, Amazon has 2,000 products in stock, and the factory is working on another 4,000. The seller did not dare to take it lightly and quickly contacted the service provider to file a complaint, but was told that the complaint was hopeless after consulting multiple parties. He then turned to a law firm for help, but was told that the case could not be handled without the involvement of a lawyer, and the seller was advised to reach a settlement.

The seller then contacted the right holder via email, firstly to confirm the differences between the product and the other party's patent, and what type of rights were infringed; secondly, he stated that if there was indeed infringement, he hoped to resolve it in a friendly manner and asked the other party to inform him of the solution.

Soon, the other party responded. They directly asked the seller if they could provide past sales and current inventory, and would give sellers options based on this data. The seller then received a form that listed the past sales information that the seller needed to fill in, including product images, ASIN, brand name, company name, country, legal address, email, listing time, sales volume and sales), as well as expected sales in the future.

For this type of infringement, Amazon’s requirement is that if the seller wants to continue selling, he or she needs to provide a letter of authorization or license agreement from the manufacturer /rights holder to prove that the product sales are legal; if this information cannot be provided, the listing cannot be restored.

Judging from the product performance and inventory situation, sellers naturally hope to reach a settlement and obtain authorization from the other party, but they have no idea whether to disclose their true sales data or how to minimize the settlement fees.

This case is just the tip of the iceberg of infringement incidents. More often, the rights holder will ask a law firm to directly file a lawsuit, and the defendants often number dozens or even hundreds of sellers.

A new batch of brand protections were added this month

In February, some rights holders stood up to defend their rights, including:

1. Jonas Brothers. The band name Jonas Brothers is a registered trademark in major categories 9, 14, 16, 18, 25, and 41. The plaintiff, Merch Traffic, initiated trademark protection, represented by the law firm Hicks, Mims, Kaplan & Burns, and the case was filed on February 7. Some of the published cases are as follows:

2. Brigid Ashwood copyrighted products. The plaintiff is Brigid Ashwood, represented by Keith, and the case was filed on February 6. According to the complaint, the rights protected in this case are only some copyrighted works including the following pictures. Sellers should check whether the products use relevant copyrights.

3. Tite-reach wrench . The plaintiff TR TOOLS initiated trademark and design patent protection , and the agent law firm Flener IP Law filed the case on February 2. The plaintiff holds the following word trademarks, an invention patent and a US design patent. The scope of protection in this case includes trademarks and related patents.

In addition, TOY BUBBLE GUN, Care Bears, GLOOMY and others have also joined the rights protection list. Sellers should check as soon as possible to see if there are any related copyrights involved.

What to do if you are sued for infringement? Here is the response process

If a seller is sued for infringement, how should he respond?

The editor consulted a law firm that handles many cross-border infringement cases. The other party said that the seller does not need to rush to contact the plaintiff after receiving the defendant's notice. In the United States and other Western countries, plaintiffs usually only accept the intervention of lawyers in negotiations and rarely communicate directly with the parties. If the seller communicates with them alone, he may face a high settlement fee; in addition, a rash reply may reveal information that is unfavorable to oneself and give others a handle.

The sellers involved can analyze and advance the case in conjunction with the lawyer’s advice. The process of handling infringement cases generally includes the following steps:

1. Domestic lawyers collect evidence and analyze the case. This stage mainly depends on whether the evidence of the plaintiff's infringement lawsuit is sufficient and complete, analyzes the final conclusion of the case, and determines whether to directly respond to the lawsuit, directly negotiate a settlement, or respond to the lawsuit first and then negotiate a settlement.

For example, if the amount involved is large, the lawsuit must be responded to first, and the plaintiff must be informed that their lawyer has entered the case, exerting pressure while speeding up the settlement process and lowering the standards; if the amount involved is low, the lawyer can directly discuss the settlement, and skipping the intermediate steps can significantly speed up the resolution process.

2. Submit the case to the cooperating American law firm , which will then assign the corresponding lawyer to take over the case.

3. The American lawyer responds to the lawsuit and needs to prepare the settlement materials and negotiate with the other party's lawyer. This stage is the longest and most important part. If you find the right lawyer, you can not only shorten the negotiation cycle, but also reduce the settlement amount.

4. Sign a settlement agreement.

5. Pay the settlement money. There are two main ways to pay : direct payment and deduction. The former is that the plaintiff provides a bank account and the seller transfers the settlement money to it, while the other party applies to deduct the settlement money from the frozen account.

6. The plaintiff withdraws the lawsuit. This depends on the payment progress of the settlement money. If the payment is made directly, the plaintiff will receive the settlement money very soon, and can get his withdrawal report in the following 1-4 weeks. If the account is deducted, it is necessary to wait until the court closes the case due to default judgment, and then notify the platform to deduct the settlement money. After the settlement money is paid off, the plaintiff will submit a withdrawal letter to the platform. The process is complicated and generally takes 3-6 months.

7. Funds are unfrozen and the case is closed. Generally, the platform does not recognize the withdrawal of the lawsuit and the settlement agreement submitted by the defendant. Therefore, the funds will only be unfrozen after the plaintiff submits the withdrawal of the lawsuit and the settlement agreement.

The trend of going overseas is hot, but the wind of infringement does not stop. Ennews has invited professional legal professionals as consultants. If sellers encounter infringement issues, they can add WeChat ennews8889 for consultation.

Infringement