Online Sellers Sued For Trademark and Copyright Infringement | Poppy Playtime Lawsuit

Greetings online sellers, we’re here to tell you about a new infringement lawsuit! The case was filed by Mob Entertainment, Inc., who owns the intellectual property of Poppy Playtime, a popular video game. According to the Plaintiff, multiple online sellers, being sued all at once under this Schedule A lawsuit, sold counterfeit Poppy Playtime products. These allegations are extremely serious and should be treated as such! 

The sellers named as Defendants shouldn’t ignore the lawsuit! It’s a top priority that you respond to the court. If you are one of the sellers who is getting sued, respond! Any failure to properly respond could lead to a Default Judgment, which is very expensive! If you can, try to avoid getting tangled up with a Default Judgment. Make sure you respond to the lawsuit! If you don’t know how to do that, consult with an intellectual property attorney. 

Mob Entertainment Suing Online Sellers

The Poppy Playtime trademark and copyright infringement lawsuit was filed by Mob Entertainment, Inc. against online sellers. The Plaintiff is suing the Defendants as part of a Schedule A case. That’s so they can reach direct settlements with the sellers. By and large, when brands like Mob Entertainment and other consumer-good-giants file these lawsuits, they want to get back some of the money they’ve lost. Settlements are one effective way to achieve that. Because on the whole Schedule A direct settlements hover at around 60% of the seller’s frozen money. 

Frozen money? That’s correct. When Schedule A infringement lawsuits are filed, Plaintiffs frequently request and get approval for a temporary restraining order (TRO). When that’s in action, sellers are unable to collect any money from their online seller accounts. Because they’ve been restrained! The seller accounts are frozen so that the Defendants can’t engage in further sales of counterfeit goods. When a seller is suffering from a TRO, they’re more likely to consider a direct settlement with the Plaintiff. Even in cases where that type of decision will lead to a seller taking a financial loss. The reason for this is that it’s a fast track to getting the lawsuit over and done with. But, as we noted, direct settlements can result in sellers unnecessarily losing money. 

Want to negotiate a settlement with Mob Entertainment, Inc. that doesn’t lead to you having to let go of more than half your money? Hire an intellectual property attorney! 

Online Sellers Should Hire an Attorney

When you’ve retained a lawyer you can have them respond to the lawsuit for you. If need be, they can forward key information to the Plaintiff that establishes your actual identity. In some cases, that’s enough to have the allegations against your business amended. Whatever method of resolution you want to aim for, having an intellectual property attorney will vastly improve your chances at achieving it. 

Allegations of Infringement on Poppy Playtime Marks

What are some of the allegations Mob Entertainment, Inc. is making against online sellers? Check out a selection of the infringement claims: 

Many Defendants also deceive unknowing consumers by using the POPPY PLAYTIME Trademark without authorization within the content, text, and/or meta tags of their e- commerce stores to attract various search engines crawling the internet looking for websites relevant to consumer searches for Poppy Playtime Products. Other e-commerce stores operating under Seller Aliases omit using the POPPY PLAYTIME Trademark in the item title to evade enforcement efforts while using strategic item titles and descriptions that will trigger their listings when consumers are searching for Poppy Playtime Products.

E-commerce store operators like Defendants commonly engage in fraudulent conduct when registering the Seller Aliases by providing false, misleading, and/or incomplete information to e-commerce platforms to prevent discovery of their true identities and the scope of their e-commerce operation.

E-commerce store operators like Defendants are in constant communication with each other and regularly participate in QQ.com chat rooms and through websites such as sellerdefense.cn and kuajingvs.com regarding tactics for operating multiple accounts, evading detection, pending litigation, and potential new lawsuits.

Defendants’ unauthorized use of the POPPY PLAYTIME Trademark and/or copies of the Poppy Playtime Copyrighted Works in connection with the advertising, distribution, offering for sale, and sale of Unauthorized Poppy Playtime Products, including the sale of Unauthorized Poppy Playtime 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. 

How to Navigate a Federal Infringement Lawsuit

As an online seller, getting sued for trademark and copyright infringement can be a nuisance. That may even be somewhat of an understatement! There are ways in which the lawsuit might scare some sellers or otherwise make them feel as though they’re already defeated. That’s not at all true! If you’re a Defendant, take action and hire an attorney today. With a lawyer on your side, you can respond in a timely manner, negotiate with the Plaintiff if appropriate, prove your identity, and/or find a reasonable or favorable resolution. The cost of hiring an attorney is certainly a worthwhile investment in this situation. 

Contact our team at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC today for a free consultation!  

Download the legal complaint below:

Up next we will be discussing the NHL Trademark Infringement Lawsuit.