Urgent! Another Amazon seller is sued

Recently, several popular products have been sued for infringement. Sellers of related products must conduct self-inspections as soon as possible. If the products in their stores involve infringement, they must be removed from the shelves as soon as possible.

Cross-border infringement has entered a high incidence period, and many brands have initiated rights protection!

1. Levi's, a well-known brand, initiated trademark protection and registered digital trademarks

The brand owner Levi Strauss & Co initiated trademark protection, the case number is 2023-cv-15542, the case was filed on November 1, 2023, and the law firm represented by GBC.

Levi 's is a world-renowned jeans brand, founded by German immigrant Levi Strauss in the United States in 1853. In 1890, Levi's created the world's first pair of jeans.

After 150 years of accumulation, Levi's has possessed very high intangible assets such as brand awareness, recognition, reputation and brand culture.

As a world-renowned brand, Levi's has previously launched multiple rights protection campaigns and even registered digital trademarks such as "550", "569", and "501". Sellers can easily infringe on their rights if they are not careful.

2. Several well-known golf ball brands jointly sued the infringing party

In recent years, brand rights protection cases have become common, with multiple brands jointly suing infringing parties.

Several well-known golf brands have initiated trademark protection in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The case number is 23-cv-62059, the filing date is October 30, 2023, and the law firm represented by SMG is.

The plaintiffs include TAYLOR MADE GOLF COMPANY, ACUSHNET COMPANY, KARSTEN MANUFACTURING CORPORATION and TOPGOLF CALLAWAY BRANDS CORP.

TaylorMade, founded in 1979, is the world's leading manufacturer of golf clubs, golf balls, golf bags and accessories, bringing innovative and high-performance products to golfers around the world. Its complete product line can provide golf enthusiasts with professional golf equipment options to meet the needs of different golf enthusiasts. It is the first brand in the history of the U.S. Open to rank first in the usage rate of drivers, fairway woods and irons.

ACUSHNET COMPANY is an American company focused on the golf market, founded in 1910. The company operates a range of brands that manufacture golf equipment, apparel and accessories.

Callaway Golf was founded in 1982. It is a global large-scale golf equipment manufacturer headquartered in North San Diego County, USA. The company's main products include clubs, balls, golf bags, gloves, etc. Its products have been sold in more than 110 countries and regions around the world, and its usage rate in the PGA Tour ranked second.

These brands have a huge influence in the golf equipment industry. Their registered trademarks cannot be used without their authorization, otherwise there will be a risk of infringement.

3. Iron Maiden, a famous British band, initiated trademark protection for the first time

Celebrity-related products are very popular on e-commerce platforms, but they are also a hotbed of copyright infringement.

The famous British band Iron Maiden initiated trademark protection in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The case number is 2023-cv-15496, the case was filed on October 31, 2023, and the law firm represented by TME is.

It is understood that the plaintiff Iron Maiden Holdings Limited is a British recording and publishing company founded by the well-known British band Iron Maiden.

Iron Maiden was founded in London, England in 1975. It consists of bassist Steve Harris, lead guitarist Dave Murray, lead singer Paul Di'anno and drummer Doung Sampson. Iron Maiden is an outstanding representative of British heavy metal bands.

So far, the band has released 17 studio albums, with global sales of more than 130 million copies. Iron Maiden is still very popular after more than 40 years of existence, especially the Iron Maiden logo has great brand value. In the minds of many rock fans, Iron Maiden represents the new wave of British heavy metal and the meaning of heavy metal. Therefore, the risk of infringement is quite high.

Sellers should note that Iron Maiden’s registered trademark cannot appear on listings, so sellers must take the time to conduct self-inspection.

4. Chinese people filed a case! Amazon's popular POP KEYCHAIN ​​keychain is suspected of infringement

Chinese seller Yuxiong Yang initiated a design patent protection case in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The case number is 23-cv-15409, filed on October 28, 2023, and the law firm represented by Getech Law LLC.

This product is a commonly used keychain with a unique design. It has four squeeze bubbles and can be used to decompress or hung on a school bag as a keychain. It is very popular on the Amazon platform.

It is understood that the appearance patent of this product was applied for in the United States on June 16, 2022, and was officially approved on March 7, 2023. The case was filed to protect rights 7 months later.

It should be noted that the plaintiff has applied to the court for a TRO injunction, but it has not yet been approved. Sellers still have time to conduct self-inspection and products suspected of infringement must be removed from the shelves as soon as possible.

Cross-border sellers must be vigilant about product infringement

In recent years, many sellers have been severely harmed by product infringement lawsuits. At the very least, the sellers who have been affected have their links removed and their sales affected. At worst, their account funds are frozen and they need to pay huge compensation to settle.

According to a survey conducted by Ennet, nearly 20% of cross-border sellers have encountered more than 5 infringement lawsuits since entering the industry, and nearly 70% of sellers have also encountered 1-5 infringement lawsuits.

The law firms representing the companies are mostly GBC, Keith, Keener, EPS, David, etc. They use crawler technology to search for evidence of suspected infringement by sellers, then pretend to place orders to obtain relevant evidence, and then file large-scale lawsuits against these sellers.

Every time these law firms take action, hundreds of stores suffer. Based on the psychology of many clients who want to settle as soon as possible, unfreeze funds, and make their accounts start to operate normally, their purpose is also very "simple". They don't want to sue, but only want settlement money, ranging from 30,000 to 100,000 US dollars. With this series of operations, these law firms can make considerable profits every year. Take GBC Law Firm as an example. Its revenue in 2022 is nearly 1 billion US dollars, which has exceeded the revenue of many domestic big sellers.

For cross-border sellers, if they want to gain a foothold and develop in the international market with strict intellectual property protection, they must ensure that their products do not have infringement risks.

Common infringements committed by Amazon include copyright, trademark, invention patents, and design patents.

If the seller prints the copyrighted work of another party on his own product or writes the trademark on his own product listing without the authorization of the brand when listing the product , it is considered infringement. In addition, it should be noted that if the product sold by the seller is invented by someone else and the other party has applied for patent protection, and the seller produces and sells it without permission, it is also considered infringement and may be sued or the product may be removed from the Amazon official platform or even the store may be frozen.

Therefore, before putting a product on the shelves, sellers must conduct an audit and evaluation of the product and conduct a trademark search to understand its status in terms of copyright, trademark and patent application. At the same time, they must communicate with suppliers to clarify the details of the source of goods and determine whether the supplier is the real owner of the rights to avoid infringement and losses to the store.

Infringement

Prosecution