More than 700 listings were removed from the shelves! A group of sellers were affected

For sellers, infringement has always been an unavoidable topic. Infringers who want to take shortcuts plant a time bomb for themselves. After being sued for infringement, their products may be removed from the shelves at best, or their stores may be closed and their accounts may be frozen at worst. Victims of infringement who have carefully planned their intellectual property rights hold high the banner of the law, safeguard their legitimate rights and interests, and fight against infringers.

Recently, many well-known trademarks including Canon and Canada Goose have been frequently involved in cases. Hundreds of infringing listings have been deleted by Amazon, and some brands have just begun to sue. Sellers should check themselves as soon as possible to avoid being implicated.

More than 700 infringing listings removed by Amazon

I believe everyone is familiar with the Canon brand, but its efforts in combating infringement and piracy are beyond the reach of many sellers, and the frequency of cases can even be described as non-stop throughout the year.

In the first quarter of this year, Canon used the “Report Violation Tool (RAV)” to report a batch of infringing listings to Amazon, involving multiple sites including France, Germany, and Italy. Ultimately, 853 infringing listings were removed from the shelves.

In the second quarter, Canon again used the tool to report 753 infringing listings to Amazon Europe, including sites in Germany and Italy . Ultimately, all of these listings were removed from Amazon.

In the recent third quarter, Amazon again reported listing infringements to Amazon’s European site. At the same time, 127 products infringed on sites in Canada, Mexico and other places. Ultimately, all 774 listings involved were deleted by Amazon.

In general, the infringing products involved in these three quarters are the same, and the products are all Canon laser printer toner cartridges. According to Canon, these sellers infringed on multiple patent numbers in Europe, the United States, and Canada, such as 2087407 and 2137577 in Europe, and the company reported the infringement.

As we all know, Canon's products are sold all over the world, and there are many of them. Some sellers are hoping to make a fortune, but this also puts themselves in a position of bankruptcy. Compared with some brands, Canon has a stronger protection of intellectual property rights. It not only adds its own unique logo to various cameras and printing products, but also has registered more than 100 trademarks with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

It can be said that almost every quarter, Canon submits infringement reports to Amazon and requests Amazon to remove these infringing products. At the same time, it updates the rights protection status on the official website at all times. Sellers should be careful.

Both brands took action, and the sellers quickly checked and removed the products from the shelves

There are two other brands that have the same high level of awareness of prevention as Canon, namely Canada Goose and Dyson, and both have joined forces with GBC Law Firm to file lawsuits.

Among them, Canada Goose is a down jacket brand from Canada. The brand focuses on its first-class cold resistance and has a wide consumer base around the world. It is precisely this factor that allows some sellers to take advantage of the loophole and try to make quick money by using the Canada Goose trademark.

Relevant data shows that in the past three years, the number of stores involved in incidents due to Canada Goose has exceeded 700+, most of which involved trademark infringements, such as CANADA GOOSE , CANADA GOOSE BASECAMP , ART THE CURE FOR WHAT AILS YOU , etc., involving multiple categories such as clothing, shoes and hats.

Recently, Canada Goose teamed up with GBC Law Firm again and filed a lawsuit on November 13. The case number is 2023-cv-15909, involving three trademarks including Canada Goose. At present, Canada Goose has not yet issued a TRO ban. In order to avoid trouble, relevant sellers are advised to remove related products involved in infringement in advance.

Another brand, Dyson, is considered by industry insiders to be the ultimate big seller that issues patents year-round. It is understood that Dyson has applied for patents for all its products, even for the components of each product.

According to the 28 pages of US patent application documents listed on its official website , Dyson has more than 10,000 global patents, with more than 4,000 in force. In addition, Dyson has 178 trademarks in force, so it is not an exaggeration to describe it as a patent giant.

On November 13, Dyson launched a patent infringement lawsuit against the curling iron, with the case number 2023-cv-15901. It is understood that the curling iron has applied for a patent with the patent number D853642, and the court has not yet issued a TRO ban.

However, sellers should be aware that in addition to the curling iron, Dyson has also applied for patents for replacement heads with other functions. Sellers of hair products may be involved in these patents if they are not careful.

However, some sellers cannot escape the fate of infringement even if they take careful precautions.

These common words also infringe copyright, sellers should use them with caution

How terrible is it to be sued for infringement of common words? Previously, "100%" was registered as a trademark, and a seller was blackmailed for more than 500,000 yuan. There were also cases involving common words such as "HULA HOOP hula hoop" and "Hygiene Hand anti-virus door opener", which closed nearly a thousand stores.

Recently, a word called Rubik's Cube has become quite popular. It means "magic cube" in translation . Many people just think it is a simple toy name, a common word.

But things are often not that simple. As early as 1938, Rubik's Cube was registered as a word and pattern trademark by a Hungarian company. This means that if some sellers use this term in their listings, they are likely to face the risk of infringement complaints.

As early as March this year, the plaintiff Spin Master Ltd. commissioned GBC Law Firm to sue for trademark infringement in Illinois, USA. 110 stores have been sued.

In fact, not only Rubik's Cube and the words mentioned above, but also many commonly used words have been registered as trademarks, which carry the risk of infringement. Words such as one, Tetris, MOTUL, Frisbee, Slip'NSlide, silicone, USB Type-C, USB 2.0 Type-C, VR BOX, ASIN, HD VISION, FOIL SHAVER, etc. all have the risk of infringement.

Therefore, sellers need to take precautions against infringements in advance. First, before the product goes into production, register and apply for your own trademarks and patents in advance to avoid brand or patent preemptive registration and infringement lawsuits; second, take precautions from the source when selecting products, and try to use original pictures and text descriptions when setting listings; finally, always pay attention to suspicious sellers, because in the UK and the US and other regions, some law firms often use phishing methods to collect evidence from sellers' stores.

Of course, after being complained about infringement, sellers should not panic. They should first clarify the type of infringement and then confirm whether they have actually infringed. At the same time, different measures should be taken for different situations of platform complaints and law firm lawsuits. Generally, if the platform complains, the seller can remove the infringing products or file a complaint, which can be resolved; but if it is sued by a law firm, it will be relatively troublesome to deal with, and the seller can find a professional organization to develop a reasonable response plan to reduce their losses.

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