What is a trademark?

A trademark is a sign used to distinguish the products or services of different operators. Any sign that can distinguish the goods of a natural person, legal person or other organization from the goods of others, including words, graphics, letters, numbers, three-dimensional signs, color combinations, sounds, etc., as well as the combination of the above elements, can be applied for registration as a trademark . It can provide customers with identification marks, guide consumers' choices, and expand the market advantages of enterprises.

Specifications for trademark infringement

• Trademark and Logo Infringement: Without authorization, the seller's products, packaging, etc. print other's logos and trademarks.
• Listing infringement: Use others' registered trademarks freely on the title, detail page, and keywords of the Listing.
• Entering a hot-selling site and failing to register the relevant trademark locally in advance leads to infringement.

I received a notice of trademark infringement, what should I do?

• determine whether it is infringing. After receiving Amazon's warning email, don't panic, and verify first. If the brand really exists and the products sold belong to the brand's registered category, you should decisively delete the relevant listing and remove/destroy the relevant FBA inventory.
• platform complaints. Contact the other party, get the complainant's forgiveness and withdraw the complaint, and reply to Amazon's email to explain the situation. If the store is suspended from sales, it can be restored by appealing according to the platform rules; it can also contact the owner and withdraw the complaint.

What can I do to respond to a trademark infringement lawsuit?

Facts in the defendant's favor include:

• Can prove that the product is genuine and not gray channel, defective or second-hand;
• Product never shipped to litigating states
• The goods sold are inconsistent with the specific products registered with the other party's trademark;
• The product is not for sale and is not clearly counterfeit;
• leave an address on the platform or the other party knows the address;
• The other party's trademark has never used the R mark and is not well-known;
• Sales are small and verifiable;
• The trademark used is different from the trademark of the other party;
• Whether the trademark owner has various faults of his own.

How to Avoid Trademark Infringement?

When posting listings, others' trademarks cannot be used. The title of the Listing, as well as the keywords of the Search terms, cannot contain someone else's brand name.

• As an agent, the seller sells a certain brand of products on Amazon, and needs to obtain the formal license of the brand trademark before publishing the Listing. It should be noted that only the trademark owner is eligible for brand authorization. Some agencies are not qualified to recognize other sellers who set up shop on Amazon. Only with the formal approval of the trademark owner, the seller can legally use the trademark.
• To ensure the regularity of supply channels, when selecting products, it is necessary to prevent possible infringement of products from the supply chain. If you find someone else's trademark on a product, it's best to check the trademark website first. If the trademark is found to be valid, the subject of the trademark is not your supplier, and the supplier cannot provide a power of attorney. At this time, it is recommended not to sell the product.
• When setting the store name, you need to pay attention to whether there is a trademark registered by others in the store name. Do not copy the names of other well-known brands, or use some brand names that mislead buyers.

What is a patent?

A patent is the right granted by the state to the patentee or his successor to exclusively use his invention and creation within a certain period of time according to law. It is an exclusive right with exclusive exclusivity. In order to use the patented technology of others, a non-patentee must obtain authorization or permission from the patentee according to law. In my country, patents are divided into three types: invention, utility model and design.

Patent Infringement Details

Amazon patent infringement mainly includes two categories: appearance patent infringement and invention patent infringement. Among them, appearance patent infringement depends on the similarity of product appearance, pattern, color or combination with the target patent, while invention patent depends on whether the technology used by the product infringes target patent.

➤The products sold have not been checked whether similar patents have been applied for, resulting in patent infringements such as appearance and invention.

➤Unauthorized sale of patented related products.

➤ Entering hot-selling sites without registering relevant patents locally in advance, resulting in infringement.

What should I do if I receive a notice of patent infringement?

➤Determine whether there is infringement. After receiving Amazon's warning email, don't panic, and verify first. If the brand really exists and the products sold belong to the brand's registered category, you should decisively delete the relevant listing and remove/destroy the relevant FBA inventory.

➤ Platform Appeal. Contact the other party, get the complainant's forgiveness and withdraw the complaint, and reply to Amazon's email to explain the situation. If the store is suspended from sales, it can be restored by appealing according to the platform rules; it can also contact the owner and withdraw the complaint.

My patent was preemptively registered by others, what should I do?

➤ If it is confirmed that competitors or other sellers have preemptively registered the patent, and the patent is still under review and has not been authorized, the solution is: public opinion - the cost is relatively low, and the acceptance agency is the United States Patent and Trademark Office. .

➤ If it is confirmed that competitors or other sellers have preemptively registered the patent, and the patent has been authorized, but the authorization time has not exceeded 9 months, the solution: go through the post-authorization review process (PGR) - its essence is like the United States The Patent and Trademark Office is invalid, the cost is relatively high, and the success rate of invalidation is also high. It is also the most commonly used and the most cost-effective patent method of invalid competitors.

➤ If it is confirmed that competitors or other sellers have preemptively registered the patent, and it is confirmed that the patent grant date has been exceeded by 9 months, it can only be re-examined by both parties (the receiving office is the United States Patent and Trademark Office, but the risk is relatively high and invalid. The probability of success is low) or go through the invalidation procedure of the US federal court, which takes a long time and costs a lot.

What is copyright?

Copyright (or copyright): is the legal term used to express the rights that creators have over their literary and artistic works. Works covered by copyright include: books, music, paintings, sculptures, films, computer programs, databases, advertisements, maps and technical drawings.

Copyright infringement is very common on platforms like Amazon. First, because the protection of copyright is not limited by categories; second, because copyright follows the principle of automatic protection (the work is automatically copyrighted). In other words, if there are acts of stealing pictures, plagiarizing listings, etc. on the e-commerce platform, it is difficult to avoid infringement complaints.

Details of Copyright Infringement

➤Image Infringement: In the case of unauthorized use, if the seller's product directly uses other people's images, it is easy to copyright infringement.

➤Description and title infringement: If the title, five-point description and content description of the product listing are copied and borrowed from peers, the repetition rate will be too high, and it will be judged as copyright infringement.

➤Using copyrighted copyrights without permission: Using music, literature, illustrations, and other materials without the consent or knowledge of the copyright owner can easily lead to copyright infringement.

➤Unauthorized sale of products with copyrighted graphics: If you sell products with unauthorized use of copyrighted graphics or cartoon images, it is easy to be sued by copyright complaints or court proceedings.

Received a copyright infringement notice, what should I do?

➤Determine whether there is infringement. If there is any infringement, it is necessary to quickly suspend the sale of related products and delete the infringing content. You can contact the complainant according to the contact information provided by the platform, obtain the complainant's forgiveness and withdraw the complaint, and reply to Amazon's email to explain the situation. If the store is suspended from sales, it can be restored by appealing according to the platform rules; it can also contact the owner and withdraw the complaint.

➤ If it is confirmed that the complaint is malicious, a counter notice can be issued in accordance with the provisions of the DMCA. According to the regulations, after the platform receives the counter notification, it should restore your content or product within 10 to 14 working days, unless the complaining party informs the platform that it has sued the court.

How do I protect my original work?

➤Complete copyright registration. Although works are protected from the moment they are created, unlike patents, trademarks, etc., which must be registered before they are protected. But registration is prima facie evidence of copyright.

➤ If you find online infringement, you can complain to the network service provider and issue a takedown notice.

➤Sue in court. If the infringer issues a counter-notification after receiving the removal notice, then the right holder must sue the court, otherwise the platform can restore the removed content or product.