Another problem with the popular product on Amazon.com, the sellers involved are sued for infringement

Ordinary grabbing and clamping may pose a risk of infringement

Many common products actually carry hidden risks of infringement, such as grabbing and clamping.

Speaking of hair clips, in addition to fixing hair, being easy to use and decorative, they can also increase the three-dimensionality and fluffiness of hair, so they are very popular among female consumers. Google Trends shows that in the United States, the popularity of hair clips has been rising since 2020. It can be said that it is not excessive for every woman to have a hair clip.

There are countless sellers of this type of product. If you search for "Hair Clip" on Amazon US , more than 10,000 search results will pop up. However, this seemingly "ordinary" product actually has a patent.

Generally speaking, the party that owns the patent will initiate an infringement lawsuit to protect its own interests. Recently, a patent holder filed an infringement lawsuit.

It is understood that the patent holder is a Guangdong enterprise. According to information from the US Patent and Trademark Office, the following grabber has been applied for a design patent by this enterprise. The company applied on August 31, 2020, and obtained the design patent authorization for the grabber on May 4, 2021.

This hair clip sold by a Guangdong seller currently ranks first in the "Hair Clip" bestseller list on Amazon's US site , with more than 20,000 reviews from buyers, 80% of which are five-star reviews. Many buyers commented on the product page that this hair clip does not pull hair like a hair tie and is easy to operate.

The seller stated in the lawsuit that he already had the legal right to use the gripper and had gained a good reputation on e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, and that some sellers selling similar products had harmed their interests.

The defendants named in the complaint can be roughly divided into two categories: one is a jewelry company from Canada, and the other is other sellers of similar grabbers, including some Chinese sellers.

The editor learned that the hair claws sold by this company from Canada are also very popular among consumers on Amazon's US site, ranking first on the "Hair Claw" bestseller list. However, the number of reviews is not as high as that of the products of Guangdong sellers, with only more than 2,000 reviews.

As for other sellers, Guangdong sellers said that in order to conceal their identities, they often use false names and addresses to operate their online stores and frequently create new accounts. Once they receive a lawsuit notice, they will only ship a small number of products to evade US Customs inspections.

This is not the first time that a seller has been sued

In fact, at the end of last year, the Guangdong seller also complained about other sellers' infringement, which caused quite a stir at the time. According to the sellers who were hit, their links were initially removed from the shelves, and when they contacted the complaining party, the other party was very tough, but later they took the initiative to contact them and said they could authorize sales, and the price limit list showed that each order could not exceed $13.99, and at the same time, they would take a commission of 3 yuan per order.

As soon as the incident happened, many sellers expressed their opinions. One seller said: I really can't imagine that this thing can infringe. Many sellers also lamented: Things like this have been around for a long time. We are of the same origin, why are we so anxious to fight each other? However, some sellers thought from another angle: When selecting products, they looked for the patent holder and learned that he used public molds to control the prices of the same items in the entire category. Otherwise, all the products would be super low-priced. Now the prices have gone up and there is profit.

Regarding the "public mold", some analysts said that there is no such thing as a public mold for the product. The so-called public mold generally means that after the seller has made the mold, he "allows" others to use the mold to produce and sell products, but it does not mean that the seller has not applied for a patent. Once the seller has the relevant patent certification documents, he has a legal reason to protect his own rights and interests.

However, it is not ruled out that the public model product is preemptively registered with the appearance patent. At this time, other sellers can take the following measures to deal with it:

1. Invalidate the patent. File an objection to the local trademark and patent office and ask the other party to rule that the patent is invalid. But this is a tug-of-war, time-consuming, labor-intensive, and expensive, and often by the time the final result is reached, the product is basically dead.

2. Patent appeal. Prepare the purchase invoice, link creation time, first purchase time screenshot (earlier than the patent registration time, proving that this product has been sold in the market for a long time) and other materials to appeal to the platform. However, with this method, the link will still be deleted after the appeal is successful, and it will not be available again in the future.

It should be noted that although there are sellers who have succeeded in both methods, the probability is very low and it will also cost a lot of time and money. Therefore, the best way is to do all the research before selling and register the relevant trademarks and patents in time.

Infringement cases worth noting in May

Looking back at the situation in May, in addition to the case of grabbing and clamping, there are actually many infringement cases that deserve the sellers' attention.

PatPat

Earlier this month, the company that PatPat belongs to filed an infringement lawsuit, mainly for copyright infringement. PatPat is a clothing and maternal and infant brand. Founded in Silicon Valley, USA in 2014, it started with children's clothing and is committed to building a global maternal and infant family consumption scene brand. In the United States, PatPat has become the first in the user recommendation index and is the preferred brand for American consumers to shop. The copyright numbers that have been known so far are:

Tangle

At the same time, Tangle also filed an infringement lawsuit. Tangle is a toy brand. Tangle toys are made of plastic pieces of different colors. After being connected together, they can be twisted and shaped into different shapes and evolved into different types. They can be works of art, toys, decorations, souvenirs, teaching tools, necklaces, furniture, etc.

Tangle pays more attention to trademark and copyright infringement. The main trademarks include TANGLE, TANGLE THERAPY, TANGLEONIA, etc.

YETI

Amazon's outdoor giant YETI also filed an infringement lawsuit, mainly for trademark infringement.

YETI is a brand that mainly produces outdoor products. Its main business includes coolers, outdoor sports bottles, bags, wine glasses and other outdoor sports products. In addition to being sold on the official website, YETI also has a presence on Amazon. And several products have performed well. On the Amazon platform, YETI bottles are quite popular, and one of them even ranked as the "Best Seller".

YETI trademarks include YETI, TUNDRA, ROADIE, YETIRAMBLER COLSTER, COLSTER, RAMBLER, HOPPER FLIP, HOPPER, YETI HOPPER, TUNDRA HAUL, DAYTRIP, FLIP, etc. At the same time, YETI also owns the patent for the appearance design of the thermos cup, and sellers of related products should also pay attention to it.

CARE BEARS

In addition, the brand owner of Care Bears, THOSE CHARACTERS FROM CLEVELAND, also filed an infringement lawsuit last week.

It is understood that THOSE CHARACTERS FROM CLEVELAND is a brand creative entertainment company from the United States, which owns many well-known brands such as CARE BEARS, MADBALLS, HOLLY HOBBIE, etc. Among them, the CARE BEARS series of cartoons has been widely loved by animation fans of all ages since its birth, and its peripheral products have quickly become popular all over the world.

At present, the brand has registered the "CARE BEARS" trademark in the United States, which involves many categories, including toys, clothing accessories, electronic products, stationery gifts, jewelry, daily necessities, etc. Sellers should also pay attention to other trademarks, such as CHRISTMAS WISH BEAR, TRASHIN' PUMPKIN, etc. In addition, unauthorized use of the copyright of the CARE BEARS cartoon image is also very easy to be sued for infringement.

It can be said that almost every seller has the awareness of copyright infringement, but sometimes they do ignore the inspection due to some subjective ideas. Many times, "public model" products such as grippers, common words, colors, etc., actually hide the risk of copyright infringement. At this time, sellers need to learn more and enhance their awareness of prevention.

Meiya

Infringement