Toyota Trademark Infringement Lawsuit. 

Have you received a notice stating you have been named in a counterfeit lawsuit filed by Toyota? Case No. 23-cv-02839, to be exact. As a Defendant in this e-commerce suit, your online business may have a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) put upon it. The TRO is related to the allegations described in the complaint. Principally, that you and the other Defendants have intentionally sold unauthorized Toyota products to United States consumers.  

The direct result of the TRO? You may currently be aware of as much. In essence, the restraining order on your e-commerce business keeps you from gaining access to money made off the sale of so-termed counterfeit Toyota goods. In addition, non-Toyota product sales may have been affected. All in all, the TRO can be a costly disruption. Our duty is to provide you with the required knowledge to get through this possibly confusing situation. 

Case No. 23-cv-02839: Trademark Infringement 

Before we dive into some of the claims made against you, we would like to address the primary course of action. You will need to respond to the complaint. If you were considering just ignoring the notice and hoping it will go away, know that it simply will not. Without a response, the court may declare a Default Judgment. Which means, you would be found guilty and have to pay damages to Toyota, without having a chance to clear up what you may or may not have actually done in terms of counterfeiting. To reiterate, most definitely provide a response to the court! 

Toyota Sues Online Sellers

Toyota Claims Counterfeiting.

As we have seen in many trademark infringement cases, Toyota is alleging that you have falsely represented yourself on platforms like Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, Alibaba, Wish.com, Walmart, Etsy, and DHgate. By way of this misrepresentation, says the lawsuit, you have consciously engaged in efforts to present yourself as an authorized Toyota retailer. Per the Complaint, your goal is to sell counterfeit Toyota goods to an unsuspecting public. Moreover, you have abused the existing verification and identification methods on various platforms to do so. 

The notice also states the Defendants’ stores “appear sophisticated and accept payment in U.S. dollars and/or funds from U.S. bank accounts via credit cards, Alipay, Amazon Pay, and/or PayPal.” And, that you frequently create and register new “seller aliases” to continue selling counterfeit items. In conjunction with these activities, you also allegedly discuss with other supposed counterfeiters how best to commit these actions without being caught. The notice describes a potential network of trademark infringement that communicates on QQ.com, sellerdefense.cn, kaidianyo.com, and kuajingvs.com. 

Finally, the Complaint delves into another common claim regarding off-shore bank accounts. Toyota is saying that e-commerce operators involved in these counterfeiting actions use such bank accounts to evade responsibility if the US court rules in the brand’s favor.

Toyota Claims Counterfeiting

The crux of the lawsuit is summed up in the following excerpt from the Complaint: 

“Unauthorized use of the Toyota Trademarks in connection with the advertising, distribution, offering for sale, and sale of Counterfeit Toyota Products, including the sale of Counterfeit Toyota Products into the United States, including Illinois, is likely to cause and has caused confusion, mistake, and deception by and among consumers and is irreparably harming Plaintiff.”

Whether these claims are true, accurate, or applicable to you and your e-commerce business practices is another matter. Our firm can dig into the details of what Toyota products you have or have not sold. From there, we can also assist you in determining the appropriate way to handle the response to the court. 

Having an Attorney on Your Side 

The team at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC knows how to strategically develop creative legal solutions to a wide variety of intellectual property issues, just like the one described herein. If you are facing a TRO due to claims of trademark infringement, we can help. In fact, we have provided solutions to clients like yourself around the world under very similar circumstances. Contact us! The consultation is free! We trust this content was useful! 

See below for a link to the complaint itself ⚖️

Up next we will be discussing the WubbaNub Copyright Infringement Lawsuit.