Online Sellers Sued by Peanuts Worldwide LLC

Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock, Lucy, Linus, and Sally… These aren’t just random names, which you probably know, they’re the names of famous Peanuts characters! The owner of the Peanuts trademark and copyright, Peanuts Worldwide LLC, has just filed a lawsuit claiming intellectual property infringement. 

Peanuts Worldwide LLC says online sellers, referred to as Defendants, have used their e-commerce stores to sell counterfeit Peanut products. In doing just that, allegedly, these sellers have infringed on the Plaintiff’s federally registered trademarks and copyrighted works. While these accusations of trademark and copyright infringement haven’t been proven, they still definitely affect the named online sellers! 

If you’re confused about why Peanuts Worldwide LLC filed this counterfeit lawsuit, that’s ok! It’s because they believe the supposed infringement has cost them money. To counter the loss they’ve absorbed, Peanuts has decided that filing the suit will provide them with an opportunity to regain some of their money. To achieve that outcome, the Plaintiff has aimed particular allegations at the sellers. Once these claims have been established to the court, the Plaintiff will seek to get a temporary restraining order (TRO). The TRO will then prohibit the sellers from accessing the money in their online selling accounts! 

What Should Sellers Do After Getting Notified of the Lawsuit?

What are the Defendants supposed to do once they’ve been notified of the lawsuit? Or, after their accounts have been struck with a restraining order? Well, you first need to absolutely respond to the lawsuit. That’s essential to the process! A seller who fails to respond to the lawsuit could later have to deal with a Default Judgment. That will cost you even more money than the restraining order and usually isn’t easily overturned. So avoid that by just responding! After the TRO comes into play, as mentioned, you’ll be blocked from the money in your accounts.

It could be a major thing, depending on the status of your business prior to the lawsuit. Bankruptcy is also a potential with the restraining order. Some online sellers are already strained and a TRO could push them over the edge. All of these things considered, you’re going to need to hire an intellectual property attorney! 

Even if you’re scared by the lawsuit, that’s no reason to pretend it isn’t real or to ignore it! You have the power to do something and the most crucial decision will be hiring an attorney. You don’t necessarily need to know how to respond to the lawsuit. Your lawyer can take care of that for you. In terms of understanding the intricacies of the legal system in the United States – that’s a job for your attorney! The cost of retaining counsel will be worth it in the long term because this is not an issue that will just go away independent of your actions. You may even end up saving money because you hired a lawyer at the right time. 

Should Sellers Reach a Direct Settlement with Peanuts Worldwide?

Peanuts Worldwide LLC, like many brands in their position, will attempt to settle directly with the sellers. Since this is a Schedule A lawsuit, the intellectual property owner is suing the Defendants as a group or network, as opposed to one by one on an individual basis. The Plaintiff’s strategy will likely fall in line with what’s typical with other Schedule A lawsuits. That is, their strategy will be to settle directly with as many sellers as they can. By doing that, the Plaintiff can regain the most amount of money.

While any of the named sellers can reach a settlement with Peanuts Worldwide LLC, it might not be in their best interest. The benefit of a direct settlement is that it’ll wrap up the issues caused by the lawsuit pretty quickly. But, the majority of these kinds of settlements only provide sellers with just over half of their hard-earned capital. Having a lawyer negotiate with Peanuts Worldwide LLC for you will likely improve your financial outcome overall! That’s why hiring an intellectual property attorney is worth it. 

Peanuts Infringement Lawsuit Allegations…

Let’s check out some of the Plaintiff’s allegations below:

Defendants are individuals and business entities of unknown makeup who own and/or operate one or more of the e-commerce stores under at least the Seller Aliases identified on Schedule A and/or other seller aliases not yet known to Plaintiff. On information and belief, Defendants reside and/or operate in the People’s Republic of China or other foreign jurisdictions with lax trademark enforcement systems or redistribute products from the same or similar sources in those locations.

Defendants concurrently employ and benefit from substantially similar advertising and marketing strategies. For example, Defendants facilitate sales by designing the e-commerce stores operating under the Seller Aliases so that they appear to unknowing consumers to be authorized online retailers, outlet stores, or wholesalers. E-commerce stores operating under the Seller Aliases 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. 

E-commerce stores operating under the Seller Aliases often include content and images that make it very difficult for consumers to distinguish such stores from an authorized retailer. Plaintiff has not licensed or authorized Defendants to use any of the PEANUTS Trademarks or copy or distribute the Peanuts Copyrighted Works, and none of the Defendants are authorized retailers of genuine Peanuts Products.

Contact Stockman & Poropat, PLLC!!!

Are you an online seller affected by the federal Peanuts Worldwide LLC trademark and copyright lawsuit? 

Contact our team at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC for a free initial consultation! Our attorneys are uniquely experienced in this area of intellectual property law and can help you and your business.  

Up next we will be discussing the latest Birkenstock Counterfeit Lawsuit.