Blindly following the trend of a hot product with over 100,000 reviews, you were put on the defendant's list in the blink of an eye!

Last year, customs across the country organized and carried out a number of special operations such as "Operation Dragon 2022", "Operation Blue Net 2022" and "Operation Clean Net 2022", focusing on high-risk commodities such as clothing, luggage, shoes and hats, and increasing inspections in cross-border e-commerce and other fields to crack down on infringements.

Data from the General Administration of Customs show that in 2022, customs across the country seized 61,000 batches and 77.939 million pieces of suspected infringing imported and exported goods; the General Administration of Customs approved 21,356 intellectual property customs protection registrations.

The trend of "cracking down on infringements" has swept domestic and overseas markets, and compliance issues are becoming increasingly important, but many sellers still fall into this trap.

A hot-selling product with over 100,000 reviews has been infringed , and the brand has sued

As a well-known pet product manufacturer, sellers in the pet product track are no strangers to Outward Hound. It is mainly engaged in the production and sales of pet toys, games, equipment, collars and feeders. Many of its products have been on the Amazon Best Seller list for many years.

Recently, the brand has started to crack down on infringements of another Best Seller product, the pet slow food bowl . On Amazon, the product continues to be a hot seller. As of press time, the number of reviews has reached 105,441, 91% of which are rated four stars or above, and 80% are rated five stars.

The product was sued for infringement on January 24, represented by THOITS LAW, with the case number 23-cv-612, mainly prosecuting trademark infringement and patent infringement.

It is understood that there are as many as 12 infringing trademarks involved , including both text and graphics , and there is also infringement of appearance patents.

It's not just foreign brands, our domestic sellers going overseas have also taken up the weapons to protect their rights.

The official website of the U.S. court shows that on February 13 this year , the TOY BUBBLE GUN Gatling bubble toy gun appearance patent infringement case was officially filed and represented by Jared W. Gasman, PA law firm , with the case number 23-cv-60278 .

The lawsuit shows that the plaintiff Huankai Gao is from Shantou, Guangdong, and is the applicant and holder of the appearance patent for the bubble toy gun. His products are sold throughout the United States .

There are currently 58 Amazon stores involved in infringement , and the corresponding product links have been removed .

In addition, the following popular infringing products have been filed recently:

1. Patent for the appearance of TRX fitness equipment grip

JFXD TRX ACQ LLC (TRX) , a fitness brand that mainly produces resistance products such as fitness bands and fitness ropes , has always been very popular among professional athletes and casual fitness enthusiasts. However, it also faces the problem of infringement. On February 1, the brand commissioned GBC Law Firm to sue for appearance patents, with the case number 23-cv-620 . Sellers of related products should be aware that if there are any similar products, they should be removed from the shelves as soon as possible.

As for infringement of appearance patents, the domestic Chongqing seller KAIWEI ZHOU's bathroom shelf appearance infringement was also filed on January 19 this year, with the case number 23-cv-00327; Quanzhou seller QUANZHOU MINGHOU TRADING CO. LTD also commissioned Bayramoglu Law Offices LLC to sue for infringement on January 3 this year, with the case number 23-cv-00026. It holds the Footwear Sole appearance patent, with the patent number USD912376S.

2. Lucia Heffernan Copyrighted Image

Oil painter Lucia Heffernan uploaded more than 1,000 of her works to the official website. As her works are popular, they have been used in products by many sellers. Therefore, the painter commissioned Keith Law Firm to protect her rights. The case was filed on January 17 this year, with the case number 23-Cv-00248.

Sellers who have used the images of this foreign artist should be careful to check the official website. If they sell products with images of his works, they should be removed from the shelves immediately. Recently, many copyrighted image authors have sued for infringement, and many sellers' stores have been frozen.

Not only the above cases, many artists have recently been cracking down on image infringement, including Lucie Bilodeau, Jeff Bartels, Nene Thomas, Laura Graves , etc. In addition, film and television have always been the hardest hit area for copyright infringement. Peppa Pig, Paw Patrol, Peanuts, PJ Masks, etc. have all been sued for infringement . Sellers must be careful when selling these peripheral products. Unauthorized use of related images and pictures will trigger the risk of infringement and lead to lawsuits .

3. T6 Trademark Infringement

For sellers of electronics, auto parts, and lighting products, the trademark word T6 must be familiar, as it is often widely used in these products.

Many sellers listed their products thinking that this was just a keyword, but it had already been registered as a trademark. On January 17, the trademark holder, Shenzhen Li Ying Electronic Technology, commissioned Konrad Sherinian, LLC to protect its rights. The case has now been formally filed with the case number 23-cv-00244.

However, the lawyer said that there are disputes in this case. If any seller has been deceived, the infringement needs to be analyzed in detail and there is no need to settle blindly.

Trademark infringement is not uncommon. Common words such as 100% and one have been registered as trademarks before, and many sellers have had their products removed from the shelves and their stores frozen. Therefore, sellers must be careful to check when using some common keywords in their listings.

At the very least, the product will be removed from the shelves, and at the worst, the store will be closed. Sellers suffer greatly from infringement

In recent years, Amazon has been cracking down on infringements more and more strictly. If a seller is involved, the consequences may be the removal of the listing and inventory backlog at the very least , or the freezing of account funds and removal of sales privileges at the worst.

The more popular the product, the more likely it is to infringe copyright. Because it sells well, in order to prevent the market from being divided, the original creator has registered patents in terms of trademarks and appearance early on. However, there are still sellers who do not pay attention, or want to make a wave of "quick money" and choose to take risks. Recently, well-known American law firms such as GBC , David , and Keith, which focus on infringement lawsuits in the industry, are filing complaints in batches, and many sellers have been included in the defendant list.

Of course, there are sellers who are indeed injured by mistake, and there are still many such sellers. On Amazon , which has a " zero tolerance " policy for infringement , once it receives a complaint , it will remove the product without waiting for the seller to verify it .

Previously, a seller reported to Een.com that Amazon removed the product from the shelves without any notice and froze the store because the product looked similar but the details were different. The seller lost nearly one million yuan while preparing to file a complaint . Even if the product link was put on the shelves again, the product ranking and exposure would have been squeezed out by its peers. However, with the help of professionals, the seller recovered some of the losses.

When faced with patent infringement lawsuits, sellers usually face huge compensation or have their stores removed from the shelves. Whether there is infringement or not is related to the " life and death " of the store , but sellers should not panic or settle blindly.

Leave professional matters to professionals. When encountering infringement issues, be sure to seek consulting services from professional and reliable industry insiders, because the relevant legal issues related to patents are relatively complicated in practice , and sometimes misunderstandings may occur , which criminals will use to carry out various frauds , and the seller will then have to bear unnecessary losses.

Nowadays, there are many service providers in the cross-border circle that provide counter-infringement services. However, with the current situation of uneven services, it is difficult to say that sellers will be able to reduce losses and restore their stores in the end. Therefore, the intervention of professional legal practitioners is indispensable. In order to help sellers solve the problem of patent complaints, Ennews has invited professional legal professionals. You can add WeChat ennews8889 for consultation .

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