Three clothing infringement cases were exposed, these "same styles" cannot be sold!

The most popular category for global cross-border sourcing in 2018 was clothing, followed by electronics and toys, according to an April report by the Center for China & Globalization .

Clothing has always been one of the categories with the largest sales volume in major e-commerce platforms , whether it is Amazon, Wish or eBay . Some of the top sellers also have very large sales in the clothing category, ranging from tens of millions to more than one billion. In addition, many small and medium-sized sellers will also enter this category. It can be said that the clothing category "takes everything, big or small".

Everyone has a need for clothing, but everyone's preferences are different, so sellers can position themselves based on differentiation. However, in many cases, sellers will follow the trend and sell some currently popular products. Wherever it is popular, they will go there. This situation often leads to the risk of infringement.

Recently, three newly announced infringement cases are more or less related to clothing, the most direct of which is the clothing brand Sexy Dance.

On December 17 , the brand's company, EZSHOOT, commissioned the law firm Palmer Law Group to file an infringement lawsuit. The case number is 21-cv-62524, which is a trademark protection. Looking at "Sexy" or "Dance" alone, you will find that there is nothing special, but when combined with "Sexy Dance" , sellers cannot use it casually in the clothing category because EZSHOOT has registered it as a trademark.

This case is a bit special. The complaint shows that all the defendants are sellers on the Walmart platform, totaling 21. In the past, the most common ones were sellers on Amazon, AliExpress, eBay, Wish and other platforms. This may be related to the fact that Sexy Dance has a store on the Walmart platform.

However, in recent years, as Walmart has stepped up its e-commerce efforts, its e-commerce team has become increasingly stronger, which also means that brand protection will take Walmart into greater consideration.

In the clothing category, in addition to trademarks, copyright is often involved, because manufacturers like to print some artwork on clothing. The other two cases involved copyright issues.

First is the lawsuit filed by Gered Mankowitz, the company that owns Jimi Hendrix, represented by the law firm AM Sullivan Law, with case number 21-cv-06461.

Gered Mankowitz is actually a photographer . He has photographed many celebrities, including guitarist Jim i Hendrix , the Rolling Stones , singer Elton John , etc.

The following is a work about Jimi Hendrix , please recognize it. And the word "Jimi Hendrix" has also been registered as a trademark.

The third case was filed by K and K Promotions, the company that owns adventurer EVEL KNIEVEL , and the law firm represented by it is AM Sullivan Law, and the case number is 21-cv-06512 .

EVEL KNIEVEL was best at flying over obstacles on his motorcycle , and was known as the "world's number one flyer ." However, he died in 2007. Even so, information about EVEL KNIEVEL cannot be used casually.

If you search the US Patent and Trademark Office, you will find that EVEL KNIEVEL has also registered the following trademarks:

In addition to clothing, these copyrighted images cannot be used on products such as cups, backpacks, stickers, etc.

If the seller is not careful in selecting products, he will be complained about infringement by other merchants. This can only rely on everyone to be more careful .

apparel

Infringement