Product infringement defendant, multiple platform sellers collectively respond to rogue law firm lawsuit

Recently, a seller reported to Yien.com that a large number of sellers received infringement notices from Amazon, and the product links were subsequently removed from the shelves. The sellers involved believed that this was a rogue law firm secretly working to maliciously harm the interests of the sellers.

The seller who broke the news told the editor of Yien.com the whole story of the incident. At the same time, he hopes that sellers of the same category of products can form a group to counter-sue and jointly safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.

The product was removed from the shelves, and 433 sellers were collectively sued

The seller who broke the news said that he received a notice from Amazon on December 9th that the product link was removed from the shelves due to trademark infringement, and the plaintiff was David Law Firm;

On December 13, a large number of sellers in this category received a temporary TRO (Temporary Restraining Order ), and their store funds were frozen . On the same day, the seller approached the intermediary to contact the other party's law firm with a conciliatory attitude .

On December 14, the seller accidentally found a news report that " hundreds of sellers responded to the law firm and won the case " , and then decided to contact the victimized sellers to carry out collective rights protection.

It is reported that the products involved in this infringement case are mainly kitchen utensils and scissors. The sellers mainly sell them on the Amazon platform, and some sellers also sell them on the AliExpress platform.

The sellers received a temporary injunction (TRO) issued by the court on December 13. Although some sellers deleted the relevant product links as early as January this year, they still could not escape the malicious prosecution of the rogue law firm.

It is reported that David Law Firm was commissioned by RT INC to file a lawsuit against the seller of CLEVER CUTTER, accusing the seller of trademark infringement. RT INC's full name is Ronan Tools, INC. The product involved in this case is its multi-functional scissors, with keywords including CLEVER CUTTER and MULTI-CUT.

In fact, this is not the first time that the brand has entrusted a law firm to protect its rights. As early as 2020, the brand entrusted Keener & Associates, PC law firm to carry out rights protection.

In the indictment, RT INC mentioned that the defendants conducted illegal operations through e-commerce websites such as Amazon, eBay, Wish, Tophatter, Alibaba and AliExpress. According to the initiating sellers, Amazon platform has frozen the amount of money of the relevant defendants, and the losses are heavy.

Subsequently, a seller provided the editor with an official email reply from Amazon regarding the infringement.

Amazon said: “We have removed some of your products and your payments from your seller account have been put on hold. We took this action pursuant to a temporary restraining order issued by a federal court. Amazon prohibits sellers from listing items that infringe the copyright, patent, trademark, design right, database right, intellectual property, or other proprietary rights of others.”

Amazon emphasized that it cannot provide sellers with any further information about this action, nor can it process any appeal messages to Amazon, and Amazon may not respond to further emails about this issue.

According to sellers, David Law Firm has sued a total of 433 sellers, including sellers who actually infringed on their products and sellers who were maliciously sued. Sellers who were maliciously sued need to spend a high settlement fee to resolve the case. "This is also the ultimate goal of David Law Firm - to obtain settlement money by maliciously suing sellers to make money." One of the sellers involved said.

At present, the seller who broke the news to Yien.com has found a law firm to handle the case and is gathering seller friends to prepare for the lawsuit. Due to the large number of sellers required to respond, the response originally scheduled for December 22 has been postponed.

The settlement costs are high, and the victimized sellers call for group response!

According to the seller who initiated the rights protection action, if the seller wants to settle the matter of frozen funds in this lawsuit, he must pay a high settlement fee.

According to what the sellers have learned , for a store with zero sales, the settlement fee is between 2,000 and 5,000 U.S. dollars; and for a store with hundreds of sales, the settlement fee is expected to be more than 10,000 U.S. dollars , which is not a small amount for most sellers.

In response to the lawyer's reply, some of the sellers involved said they had given up and were ready to pay compensation of $5,000. In addition to the settlement fee, the economic losses of sellers due to the removal of product links were mostly in the tens of thousands of dollars. The sellers implicated by malicious complaints suffered terribly.

Although some sellers have accepted their fate and are ready to pay compensation, some sellers hope to protect their legitimate rights and interests through legal means. Sellers hope to unite to respond to the lawsuit and defend their rights like the previous "wedding dress case". The sellers who initiated the rights protection action believe that the victimized sellers should not remain silent, but should unite to respond to the lawsuit and defend their legitimate rights and interests.

It is reported that on November 25 this year , David Law Firm in the United States urged the court to execute a temporary TRO in the name of infringement complaints, resulting in the freezing of 524 store accounts. At that time, the category involved was wedding dresses. At that time, 105 sellers chose to take the initiative to protect their rights and filed a class action lawsuit.

After the incident, the sellers actively banded together and searched for similar cases on Google to find a solution. Their efforts paid off, and they found Interlink Law Group, a law firm with successful experience in responding to similar cases .

After many sellers formed groups, made plans, and found a good law firm, and after communication, these sellers formally responded to the lawsuit, catching David's law firm off guard and forcing it to withdraw the lawsuit against 524 Chinese sellers. The outcome was very gratifying.

The victimized sellers actively responded to the lawsuit in order to replicate the success of the "wedding dress case". "My lawyer told me that the more sellers we gather, the greater the chance of winning. At that time, David Law Firm never thought that more than 100 sellers would unite to defend their rights, which caught David Law Firm off guard and forced it to withdraw the lawsuit. The road to defending rights is long, and I hope that more victimized sellers can actively join in this case!"

The seller who broke the news said that he has gathered dozens of victimized sellers. If the number of sellers responding to the lawsuit can be between 50 and 100, the probability of winning the case will be close to 100%. This is because David Law Firm may not have enough time to collect relevant evidence from all the sellers responding to the lawsuit.

In addition, the seller also mentioned that the time required for settlement is much longer than that for responding to the lawsuit, and the settlement takes at least 2 months. If you need to bargain with the other party during this period, it will take longer. According to the seller's personal experience, after 5-7 rounds of bargaining, the settlement will take nearly 4 months, and the initiative will be in the hands of the other party.

In the face of malicious complaints, sellers should actively protect their rights

According to the editor, David Law Firm does not have a glorious image of upholding justice in the minds of cross-border sellers, and its malicious behavior in the market has occurred more than once or twice.

Faced with frequent malicious complaints from law firms such as David, many voices have appeared in cross-border e-commerce forums calling on victimized sellers to respond collectively: We can no longer remain silent, we can no longer allow these rogue law firms to continue to harm our compatriots, and we can no longer allow this kind of atmosphere to make Amazon sellers feel insecure.

Amazon and other platforms are now cracking down on product infringements more and more. The editor would like to remind all sellers to do a good job of research when operating products to avoid falling into infringement crises. If you encounter similar malicious complaints, you should also pay attention to collecting relevant evidence and actively safeguard your own legitimate rights and interests!

Infringement

Amazon Platform

AliExpress Platform

Rights Protection