Fall 2024 NBA Trademark Infringement Action

NBA Properties has filed a federal trademark infringement lawsuit in Illinois! Based on the Lanham Act and the company’s own information and belief, online sellers have infringed on the NBA’s intellectual property. Are you permitted to hire your own attorney to address this counterfeiting action? Yes, you are! As a matter of fact, the Defendants in this case should retain legal counsel. When you do so, you’ll be much better equipped to navigate the situation at hand. Regarding legal strategizing, negotiations, and/or clearing your business of any alleged wrongdoing – you can rely on our team at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC. 

What’s interesting about the lawsuit, to a degree, is that the allegations of trademark infringement have been flung at multiple sellers. The NBA action filed in federal court is called a Schedule A lawsuit. The Plaintiff’s desire is to file a lawsuit against more than one e-commerce operation. Therefore, a list of Defendants is essentially drawn up and then the claims of their unlawful conduct is then described by the NBA. As you may have noticed already, all of the sellers are being sued at one time, instead of individually. There’s several reasons why brands like the NBA choose this legal route. Among them is the advantage it gives the Plaintiff when negotiating settlements. No matter, each and every Defendant needs to respond! 

Do the Allegations Apply Uniformly to Every Seller?

Is every allegation in the NBA trademark action applicable to every named seller? The answer to that question is perhaps, but not in any uniform manner. See, the Plaintiff’s main allegation is that the list of sellers, observable on the Schedule A, have worked together. This alleged network of e-commerce sellers, according to the NBA, have collaborated to sell counterfeit goods on the marketplace. The claim is quite bold in its reach and assertion.

For one seller, that could be true in some sense, yet for another seller it may not be applicable to their operation at all. For other sellers, the issue that the Plaintiff has with their alleged actions is related to the obfuscation of their true identity. Just like the assertions themselves, the range of accountability is somewhat broad. This is why utilizing an intellectual property attorney will be such a beneficial decision. Your lawyer can assess your business details, create a legal strategy, and respond to the allegations accordingly. 

The Disruption Caused by the Temporary Restraining Order

Arguably, the most disruptive and frustrating aspect of the NBA trademark lawsuit will be the temporary restraining order. As we mentioned, the Plaintiff believes that the Defendants have worked together to willingly infringe on the brand’s intellectual property. As a result of this leading allegation, the NBA will have the federal court approve a restraining order or injunction. With the court’s approval, the injunction will take effect and place a freeze on the sellers’ online accounts. What about the money that’s in those accounts? The sellers won’t be able to access it, for a temporary period of time. The impact to each e-commerce business involved will not be exactly the same, but similar. Not having access to the money you earned from your sales can harm your business. And, that’s the same reason why the NBA wants the restraining order. 

The NBA Will Freeze Your Accounts With an Injunction

Until the Defendants respond, negotiate, or clear their name, the restraining order’s design is to stop them from the alleged actions related to infringement. The NBA claims that they’ve lost money because of the counterfeiting. The Plaintiff describes the loss they’ve absorbed as so significant that this lawsuit is a means of stifling the illegality so that they may recoup their loss. Which is where settlements come into play. The NBA may wish to reach direct settlements with the sellers they’re suing and vice versa. But, on the whole, if sellers choose this path of resolution they’ll likely walk away with less than half of the money in their frozen account. That could work out well for the Plaintiff, however, it isn’t what we’d call favorable for you, the seller. 

Our team of intellectual property attorneys are prepared to help you handle the NBA trademark infringement lawsuit. We can develop a viable legal strategy and negotiate on your behalf so that your e-commerce business doesn’t take a devastating loss. Our experience in the e-commerce sphere is unmatched and we’re thoroughly enthusiastic about saving you valuable time and money! 

NBA Properties Allegations of Infringement

To comprehend the NBA’s allegations of trademark infringement, look to the legal complaint itself. This is where the allegations and their implications are laid out in full. Here, we’ll present a selection of the allegations and at the end of the article you may download the complaint: 

Defendants concurrently employ and benefit from substantially similar advertising and marketing strategies. For example, Defendants facilitate sales of Counterfeit NBA Products 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, including, in many instances, by copying the layouts, terms of service, legal notices and/or contact information found on the websites of Plaintiff’s authorized online retailers. 

[Sellers] deceive unknowing consumers by using one or more NBA Trademarks 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 Genuine NBA Products.  

Counterfeit NBA Products for sale by the Seller Aliases bear similar irregularities and indicia of being counterfeit to one another, suggesting that the Counterfeit NBA Products were manufactured by and come from a common source and that Defendants are interrelated. 

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

Download the legal complaint below:

Up next we will be discussing the newest NBA Properties Counterfeit Action.