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How Amazon Crack Down on Infringement and Get Compensation

Sharline Leelinesourcing952 29-Jan-2019

Amazon, the giant of e-commerce in the United States, helps lots of people market online. However, complaints arise because sometimes infringements happen.

If you are a seller on the platform and you see someone selling the same products under your name or using the same pictures, or marketing the same content, you will be quite uneasy about this and want to defend your rights and get compensation. You might be angry, but you need to stay calm and remember to be reasonable. This article will explain the general infringement types on Amazon, how to identify them and get compensation.

How Amazon Crack Down on Infringement and Get Compensation

1. General infringement types

  • Trademark Infringement

A trademark is a symbol, phrase, or some other device that identifies and distinguishes the ownership of a product or service. As the United States law specifies, a trademark is intended to stand as a mark of quality. When people buy products from Amazon, they often rely on trademarks to identify the quality of the goods that they are purchasing.

How Amazon Crack Down on Infringement and Get Compensation

Trademark infringement is the unauthorized use of a trademark or service mark (or a substantially similar mark) on competing goods or services. When someone takes another’s trademark and uses it without permission and therefore profits from the business; this is trademark infringement. If you buy brand-named goods on their discount rack and resell them, there is no trademark violation. There are some obvious examples for your reference.

Possible trademark infringement is where someone uses a word, letter or symbol that is close to another company’s trademark. It causes a likelihood of confusion. For example, if you use a similar stripe device to Adidas but make the lines a little thinner, it may or may not be a trademark infringement. A likelihood of confusion occurs “when the consumers viewing the mark would probably assume that the product or service it represents is linked with the source of a different product or service.”

For Amazon sellers, trademark infringement generally occurs on the unauthorized use of a trademark on the brand name, product packaging, product name, product description, and sometimes counterfeit products. This practice is frustrating for the owner of the trademark who has invested time and money developing goodwill and reputation.

How Amazon Crack Down on Infringement and Get Compensation

  • Copyright infringement

Copyright is a legal right that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights to determine whether, and under what conditions, this original work may be used by others. Copyright infringement is the use of another’s artistic works (pictures, books, music) protected by copyright law without permission. This usage infringes certain exclusive rights granted for the copyright holder. On the Amazon platform, copyright infringement generally occurs when a seller users the other people’s text or images, or copyrighted item without authorization. Generally, copyright infringement is viewed as theft.

     *Someone is selling your artistic works.

This one is a little tricky. If they sell your music, books, pictures without your permission, it shall be a clear copyright infringement. However, if they purchase your artistic works and resell it, they will be under the First Sale Doctrine. Normally, it occurs when they are attempting to sell a brand new version of your latest artistic works without you having authorized them.

     *Someone stole your pictures or written text.

If you create images or text, not getting them from another source and you find another seller using them, this is most likely to infringe your copyright.

How Amazon Crack Down on Infringement and Get Compensation

     * Patent infringement

A US patent is a limited monopoly granted to an inventor by the federal government for his or her invention. According to the patent law, a patent means the patent owner has the right to exclude others from using his or her patent invention without his or her authorization. Patent infringement refers to violating the patent law and using the patent without the authorized license from the patent owner.

Patent infringement is becoming increasingly common as new products are designed, developed, perfected, assembled, manufactured, distributed, sold and used in dozens of scenarios. We will introduce the types of patent and infringements below:

      *Utility Patent

1. The most common type of patent

2. Related to technology such as mechanics, chemistry, and software

3. May include drawings, charts, and software

4. A very detailed description of the patent is always necessary

     *Design Patent

1. Only exists in the United States. In other countries, designs aren't patented.

2. The function doesn't matter for design patents

3. Typically, only a drawing of the design is necessary when filing a design patent application

      *Plant Patent

1. Only relevant for patents that involve plants such as flowers

2. A florist may patent a type of hybrid flower

Infringement types are as below:

*Unintentional infringement. For example, two companies that compete in the same industry and both have R&D departments. It’s possible they could develop the same product which they both rush to market, but the result is that Company A introduces a new product that infringes the patent of Company B. This is an unintentional infringement.

*Willful infringement. Willful patent infringement occurs when a company or business ignores an existing patent and brings an infringing product or service into the market.

*Direct infringement. Someone creates the product without the patent holder's permission. The infringer doesn't have to know that the patent exists for the patent owner to sue him or her for direct infringement. That person can't make, use, offer, sell, or import a patented invention whether or not he or she knows a patent exists.

*Indirect infringement. The infringer did not directly infringe on the patent but may have encouraged or helped to infringe on the patent.

*Induced infringement. This type refers to inducing or persuading someone to make a patented invention. This term is often used in the same way as indirect infringement.

*Contributory infringement. Someone provides a part of a product to help someone else infringe a patent. That part or product must not have any other reasonable use.

*Literal infringement. To prove literal infringement in court, all elements of a defendant's device or idea must be present in the patented one.

How Amazon Crack Down on Infringement and Get Compensation

2. Checking Ways for Amazon Infringement

With the above types in mind, do you know how to identify if the infringement is valid or not? Is there a website we can use for reference?

Below we will explain which online resources you can use to check trademark or patent. You can go to seller ask to find the correct website to check your trademark. In America, the government trademark is available for you to use. For EU members, look at European. US patent is available for patent checking in the US, and European patent for sellers from the EU.

Also, you can check the appearance of the infringed products. If the infringing products have similar trademarks to the legitimate products which could lead consumers to mistake one for the other, then it shall be considered as an infringement.

You can identify legitimate sellers from their sales volume, price, MOQ. Generally, if the numbers are smaller, the seller is more likely to be legitimate. If the seller’s MOQ is larger and the price is much higher than other sellers of the same product, then this seller is more likely to have the product patent.

Last but not least, you can check your product with Google and other search engines. You can go to Google with the keywords related to the products, and identify with Google mapping. You can also check your license authorized from the patent owner or copyright owner to make sure you are doing legal business.

Finally, you need to analyze the search results and collect favorable evidence including the infringing trademark, the property of the infringement, the infringing image, listing, or unauthorized products or copyright. With the legitimate info in mind, you can analyze the search result, and determine if your products being infringed or not.

How Amazon Crack Down on Infringement and Get Compensation

3. Solutions to the infringement:

*Contact Amazon platform online. You can go and read what Amazon says about copyright infringement and ask that they take down the offending listing or products. Fill their online form to submit your request.

*Submit a written report via email or mail it to Amazon legal department directly. Please remember to include the details below in your report according to Amazon’s procedures:

1. An electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the relevant trademark, copyright, or patent interest.

2. A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed upon.

3. A description of where the material you claim is infringing is located on the site.

4. Your contact info, address, telephone number, and email address

5. A statement by you that you are confident that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright or patent owner, its agent or the law.

6. A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your report is accurate and that you are the trademark, copyright or patent owner or you are authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.

Amazon’s legal department contact info is as below:

Copyright Agent

Amazon.com Legal Department

P.O. Box 81226

Seattle, WA 98108

Phone: (206) 266-4064

Fax: (206) 266-7010

E-mail: copyright@amazon.com

Courier address:

Copyright Agent

Amazon.com Legal Department

410 Terry Avenue North

Seattle, WA 98109-5210

USA

*After the report, the Amazon platform will send an email to the alleged seller or buyer about the disputed infringement complaints.

How Amazon Crack Down on Infringement and Get Compensation

The alleged seller may contact you to discuss the issue. They may apologize and offer to stop selling in exchange for the complaint removal. Note that the complaint would have suspended their account or product. They may negotiate with you and try to persuade you to minimize the infringement impact and continue their business. If you agree with their suggestion, then the issue has been resolved. For this step, we suggest you contact a lawyer and get professional advice. Please make sure that you are properly listed in the brand registry. 

*If you want to continue and get legal compensation you need help from a legal authority. Using a specialized attorney, you can go to the court to sue the alleged seller to get a judgment from the court.

*If all the evidence is favorable for you and you win the case, the plaintiff may choose a peaceful solution. They may negotiate with you and discuss an acceptable resolution.

Although you may get compensation, the process is time-consuming. Reducing the possibility of trouble due to infringing or being infringed upon is the best way not to have these problems. What tips are there to minimize infringement problems?

1. Trademark your brand. Trademarking is the first step in protecting your brand against theft.

2. Register your brand. You should register your brand even before your file your trademark because it makes you distinctive in the market.

3. File for copyright protection on your sales copy and the pictures you place on your listing.

4. File for a patent if you are selling a product you invented or designed. It is an absolute must to protect you against patent infringement.

5. Get a good lawyer on your side who can address IP related violations for you. It is a proactive way to prevent infringement. With a lawyer’s involvement, they can help ensure that you have a solid foundation in place to protect your intellectual property.

How Amazon Crack Down on Infringement and Get Compensation

Infringement happens; it’s part of doing business on the Amazon platform. If you are going to start a business on the platform, this article will help you to deal with infringements. It may help you to avoid some pitfalls and have a smooth running business. It’s your right to crack down on infringement plus defending the quality of products is in the public’s interests.







Updated 29-Jan-2019
Sharline, the founder of a leelineSourcing.com, is an expert on Chinese export trade. With 10 years of experience in the field of sourcing in China, she is familiar with all relevant regulations and laws about China's exporting. She'd love to share her experience with people and has written many helpful articles.

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