Deckers Sues Online Sellers, Claiming Counterfeit Sales of UGG, Hoka, and Teva Products

Deckers Outdoor Corporation owns the trademarks for UGG, Hoka, and Teva. These popular brands have had a loyal international following for a long time. This popularity means that loads of products are branded with the UGG, Hoka, and Teva name and/or logo. These goods appeal to consumers for a number of reasons, both for outdoor recreation and fashion. Another way to interpret these facts is by acknowledging that these Deckers trademarks have a high value.

It’s the value of the Deckers trademarks and other related intellectual property that brings us to the latest lawsuit. Deckers has filed a federal trademark infringement action. That lawsuit claims a group of online sellers have sold unauthorized products to consumers. The Defendants are grouped together and framed by the Plaintiff as a “network.” This gives Deckers the power to sue all of them at the same time. As opposed to on an individual basis. What is specific to each seller, however, is the degree to which they’ve actually done what the Plaintiff alleges. Which is why you’ll want to start working with our attorneys at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC right away!

Among the many benefits of working with our team, you’ll have award-winning intellectual property attorneys to develop your legal strategy. Our firm has aided e-commerce operators throughout the world to address issues related to trademark infringement. We’re prepared to offer the same top-tier services to you! The world that is online selling can be chock full of all sorts of hiccups and Stockman & Poropat, PLLC has the experience required to guide you through this process. Our goal is to ease the pain of this lawsuit as much as we can and save your business money and time!

Your Seller Accounts Will Be Frozen Temporarily | UGG, Hoka, Teva Trademark Infringement

As one of the sellers who has been accused of selling counterfeit UGG, Hoka, and Teva products, your seller accounts will be temporarily restrained. As a matter of common practice, Plaintiffs who file these Schedule A federal infringement lawsuits tend to get injunctions approved by the court. The temporary restraining order is meant to freeze sellers’ accounts. Once frozen, the Plaintiff hopes that the sale of unauthorized products will be put on hold, for the time being. This is because Deckers alleges that the actions of the Defendants have resulted in financial loss. The brand is also concerned about their reputation and likely consumer trust.

To reiterate, the restraining order will mean that your seller accounts will be frozen! If that’s not a reason to take this legal matter extremely seriously, we’re not sure what is. As an e-commerce operation, you need money! Even if you’re doing incredibly well with sales, the injunction that Deckers will have the court approve may tie up tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. And what about those online businesses on the other end of the spectrum? They’ll likewise be adversely impacted – if you’re already dealing with a struggling cash flow, the restraining order may push some into bankruptcy.

Curious About Directly Settling With the Plaintiff?

For a few Defendants, the investment into obtaining legal counsel may seem too costly. If a seller chooses to examine the situation through this lens, they may want to directly settle with Deckers. Sure enough, the sellers who’re being sued in this case can attempt to reach such a settlement with the Plaintiff. But, we ask that the Defendants please be careful when making this decision. The average settlement amount when reached directly between sellers and brands in these infringement lawsuits is around 60%. That’s about how much of your frozen account money you’d be walking away with! If you’re a Defendant and are interested in settling for a bigger amount, or pursuing your other options, retain an IP attorney at our firm today!

Deckers’s purpose in filing this lawsuit is to curb what they’ve alleged is an overflowing amount of counterfeit sales. The sellers are accused of acting as a counterfeit network, among other allegations. As a so-called network, the Plaintiff has identified sales of unauthorized, infringing goods on an array of online marketplaces. These include Temu, TikTok, DHgate, Etsy, Walmart, http://Wish.com, Alibaba, AliExpress, eBay, and Amazon, to name a few. However accurate this identification on the Plaintiff’s behalf may be, the restraining order will impact the Defendants just the same. To most successfully negotiate with Deckers and/or to clear your business of any alleged wrongdoing, you can put your trust in Stockman & Poropat, PLLC!

Deckers Allegations: Counterfeit Network Sold Unauthorized Goods

Here follows a few paragraphs representing a snippet of the allegations made by Deckers against online sellers, to provide the context for the lawsuit:

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 look 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. Deckers has not licensed or authorized Defendants to use the DECKERS Trademarks, and none of the Defendants are authorized retailers of genuine Deckers Products. 

Defendants, without any authorization or license from Deckers, have jointly and severally, knowingly and willfully used and continue to use the DECKERS Trademarks in connection with the advertisement, distribution, offering for sale, and sale of Counterfeit Products into the United States and Illinois over the Internet. 

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

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Up next we will be discussing the latest Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger Trademark Action.