TikTok's popular toy brand is defending its rights, and dozens of stores have been sued!

It’s true that it’s cute, but it’s also true that it can’t be sold

Recently, EPS Law Firm represented Squishmallows, a plush toy brand under Kelly Toys Holdings, LLC, and filed case 21-cv-3084, suing dozens of independent stores .

The plaintiff, Kelly Toys, was founded in 1986 and is a toy company whose best-selling product lines include Squishmallows, Kellybaby, and Wags & Purrs.

Among them, Squishmallows was named one of the best toys of 2020 by Good Housekeeping magazine ; a report in March this year showed that the brand had sold more than 73 million products and related videos had been viewed more than 1 billion times on TikTok .

（Brand official website）

Looking at the law firm representing this case, many sellers have dealt with EPS. It is understood that EPS generally only takes screenshots and does not make real purchases. The settlement is mainly based on the sales volume of the infringing products , and the settlement amount is relatively high. It was once called "the most difficult law firm" by sellers .

This case mainly involves trademarks and image copyrights . In terms of trademarks, Kelly Toys has registered a series of word trademarks, such as Squishmallow, Kellytoy and Mystery Squad, which all belong to Class 28 (toys, sporting goods, etc.).

In terms of copyright, more than 500 character images on the official website are copyrighted . The following is a small part of them:

The defendants in this case only involved independent website sellers, but platform sellers should not take it lightly. The editor searched for "Squishmallow" on eBay and there were nearly 35,000 search results . Many sellers were selling similar plush toys and other products, and they also included "Squishmallow" in the title.

At present, Squishmallow has only carried out a wave of rights protection against independent site sellers, but there is no guarantee that it will not turn its attention to platform sellers in the future. Sellers selling related products should also conduct self-inspections as soon as possible and try to avoid risks.

Cherish your shop and stay away from infringement

It has always been common for platform sellers to be sued for infringement, but there are relatively few reports of independent website sellers infringing. But this does not mean that independent website sellers can relax their vigilance.

Website building platforms are continuously cracking down on infringements. Take XShoppy as an example. It has connected to big data query systems such as trademarks, patents, and copyrights, and uses massive data to verify infringements and crack down on them.

Payment companies also expressly prohibit infringement. PayPal states in its usage policy that sellers must not infringe or violate any copyright, trademark, right of publicity, right of privacy or any other proprietary right under the laws of any jurisdiction . Violators may face measures such as account suspension and fines.

In the past, there have been cases where independent website sellers were sued by law firms. The sellers’ funds were frozen due to infringement, and even their domain names were taken away by the lawsuit ...

Many sellers have fallen into the trap of infringement, and the series of consequences after being sued have also made sellers exhausted. Infringement is cracked down on by many parties, and playing tricks is not advisable; passive infringement is hard to prevent, and sellers should be more cautious in their daily work.

Infringement

Independent website sellers

Squishmallows Brand