Sold PlayStation Products? Sony Sues Online Sellers For Infringement

If you’ve recently sold Playstation products to consumers in the United States by way of your e-commerce business, that could explain why you’re getting sued! The Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) federal trademark lawsuit will require a response from the Defendants. The lawsuit isn’t a scam or fake or anything along those lines… The Playstation trademark lawsuit is certainly real and will affect your online business! For these reasons, as a Defendant you’ll want to provide a response to the lawsuit.

To anyone considering not responding to the lawsuit, please reconsider! The absence of a response may pave the way for the court to issue a Default Judgment. With a Default Judgment, online sellers could face steeper financial penalties. Also, once the judgment has been issued, it’s often extremely difficult to overturn the court’s decision. To protect your business, provide a response. If you’re not sure what the response should contain, or have any other questions regarding the response process, you can rely on our team at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC!

Details of Sony Trademark Lawsuit RE: PlayStation Goods

When discussing an intellectual property infringement case, we like to share some of the details of the lawsuit as presented in the legal complaint. See several excerpts from the Playstation trademark lawsuit complaint below, to provide further context for the situation:

Defendants [] deceive unknowing consumers by using the PLAYSTATION 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 PlayStation[] Products. Other e-commerce stores operating under the Seller Aliases omit using the PLAYSTATION Trademarks 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 Genuine PlayStation[] Products.

E-commerce store operators like Defendants regularly register or acquire new seller aliases for the purpose of offering for sale and selling Counterfeit Products. Such seller alias registration patterns are one of many common tactics used by e-commerce store operators like Defendants to conceal their identities and the full scope and interworking of their counterfeiting operation, and to avoid being shut down.

Counterfeiters such as Defendants typically operate under multiple sellers aliases and payment accounts so that they can continue operation despite SIE’s or the SIE Affiliates’ enforcement. E-commerce store operators like Defendants maintain off-shore bank accounts and regularly move funds from their financial accounts to off-shore accounts outside the jurisdiction of this Court to avoid payment of any monetary judgment awarded to SIE.

Stockman & Poropat, PLLC Can Help Make the Process Painless

Of course, Stockman & Poropat, PLLC can make the process of dealing with the Playstation trademark lawsuit much easier for you! Once you start working with our intellectual property attorneys, our team will work tirelessly to deliver the results you need. As with other Schedule A IP suits, this action by Playstation will mean a temporary restraining order will be issued. That restraining order will affect the Defendants, all of them, to different degrees. A selection of the online sellers may already be struggling, while others may have experienced great success. No matter your financial health as an e-commerce operator, you deserve an equitable resolution. Especially if the injunction pushes your online selling business closer to bankruptcy!

The temporary restraining order will affect all of the Defendants because it places a freeze on seller accounts. The money you earned from selling Playstation products will not be accessible. For the most part, injunctions in lawsuits like this impact money generated by the sale of the Plaintiff’s products. The TRO can also apply to money that was earned from the sale of entirely different products, unrelated to Playstation. Which is why this lawsuit is such a serious issue! Without question, the fact that the Plaintiff is going to freeze your seller accounts gives them an advantage. That is, Sony Interactive Entertainment may attempt to settle directly with sellers. If SIE is doing so after the restraining order is approved, that may convince sellers to take a deal.

Sony Aims to Stop Counterfeit Sales With Restraining Order

The reason Sony is seeking a restraining order related to trademark infringement is because they aim to halt further counterfeit sales. It’s Sony’s assertion that the unlawful actions of the Defendants have led to damage to the Playstation brand and financial loss. Even if you haven’t engaged in the counterfeiting as alleged in the legal complaint, you still need to address the lawsuit! Better to handle this legal matter with an attorney than not because of the high stakes. Additionally, direct settlements between sellers and big brands usually leave sellers with 60% of the amount in their frozen accounts. Stockman & Poropat, PLLC wants you to get the absolute best outcome possible! Our team will develop a legal strategy based on your specific business practices.

As a Defendant being sued by Sony Interactive Entertainment for selling allegedly counterfeit Playstation products, you should hire an intellectual property attorney! Our attorneys at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC possess an unmatched level of experience in the e-commerce world. We’ve delivered impeccable results for clients around the world and look forward to working with you and your business! It’s our goal to save you time and money and to make the legal process as painless as can be.

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 latest Collegiate Licensing Company Trademark Infringement Action.