164 stores sued! This category is often sued for infringement

Not long ago, Amazon's Prime Day was officially announced to be held on July 12th - 13th . As soon as the news came out, sellers were gearing up to seize this big promotion to break the sluggish sales since 2022.

However, as soon as Prime Day was officially announced, sellers reported that their top listings were removed from the shelves and encountered copyright complaints . In the United States, the sales of children's products have always been good. As a favorable market, sellers are rushing to enter. And precisely because there are so many competitors, copyright is particularly important, so infringement incidents of products in this category are frequent.

Recently, BABY BORN, a subsidiary of Zapf , once again filed an intellectual property infringement lawsuit . The case number is 22-cv-03131 , and the plaintiff is Zapf Creation Group .

( BABY on Amazon   One of BORN’s infringed products )

It is understood that the last lawsuit against the brand of children's dolls was in 2018. Since 2002 , Zapf has registered a series of patents, including trademark infringement and appearance patents, involving the specific appearance of the doll and the outer packaging box. In addition, the doll has also applied for a US invention patent, which provides copyright protection for the doll's internal structure and function .

Sellers should note that if a brand has also applied for design patent protection, simply removing the trademark name will also constitute infringement .

The editor also noticed that the cartoon "Peppa Pig" had experienced an intellectual property infringement case in April , but it was a hidden case at the time and the details of the case were only recently announced. According to the indictment, the case number of the infringement case is 22-cv-02069 and the case was filed on April 21, 2022 .

It is understood that Peppa Pig has already applied for patents in various aspects such as trademarks and appearance , including 45 categories of trademark patents . If you want to sell related peripheral products, you need to be formally authorized by the brand. Currently, the Peppa Pig trademarks have occupied 20 categories, and there are 164 defendant stores .

Once an animation becomes popular, the peripheral products will surely sell well. It is understandable that sellers want to take advantage of the popularity to make a profit, but it must be noted that the overseas market pays great attention to copyright issues. Sellers should not put products on the shelves without obtaining relevant authorization letters from the brand, otherwise they will appear on the defendant list.

In short, sellers must do a good job of patent search avoidance when selecting products . The more popular the product, the higher the risk of infringement. If you are not careful , you may be involved in infringement. At the very least, you will be warned by Amazon , and at worst, your store will be closed. Sellers should be careful not to fall into the trap.

Infringement

Children's Products