NBA Sues Online Sellers After Loss of Revenue Due to Trademark Infringement

Stockman & Poropat, PLLC is a leading intellectual property law firm and we’re here to discuss the latest NBA trademark infringement lawsuit. Are you a named Defendant in the case? Rest assured, our stellar team can offer you the legal help you need! We prioritize efficiency and communication, so whatever your questions and concerns are, we want to hear them. Getting you back on track as an e-commerce seller is our number one aim. Don’t let this lawsuit totally derail your online selling business and contact us today! 

We beg that you don’t mistake this NBA infringement lawsuit for anything other than what it is. A serious legal matter that requires immediate attention! The sellers who’ve been named in this recent NBA trademark action must respond to the court. Any seller who for whatever reason doesn’t respond in a timely manner could find themselves in a more complicated situation. There’s a possibility that a lack of a response results in the court issuing a Default Judgment. No one would wish for that! It’s a great risk to your e-commerce operation and can result in hefty losses. 

Our firm doesn’t want you to feel as though you don’t have options, because you do! In order to overcome this reality, you’ll want to rely on an intellectual property attorney who cares. And that’s us at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC. Our team will support your aims and work toward achieving your desired outcome to the utmost of our abilities. And, we’ll do so while keeping you in the loop all the way. We know all too well how deeply these infringement lawsuits can affect online sellers. So we try to reduce stress and save you as much time and money as possible. 

What is the NBA Trademark Lawsuit Concerned With?

Now, what is this NBA trademark lawsuit so concerned with? The Plaintiff has outlined several allegations that constitute various types of infringement. The NBA claims that the Defendants sold a significant amount of counterfeit, branded goods to consumers online. In doing so, the Plaintiff alleges, the named sellers caused the NBA to sustain a loss of revenue. Moreover, they say the Defendants’ actions harmed the brand reputation of the NBA. In terms of the consumer perspective, the NBA asserts that the sellers have utilized so many strategies to make their sites appear authorized, but they aren’t. And, consumers are unable to tell the difference, according to the Plaintiff. 

In addition to those allegations, the NBA states that the Defendants know and communicate with each other. This communication is not simply social, according to the court document, it’s connected directly to the sale of counterfeit products. Allegedly, the named sellers use certain online platforms to build and maintain relationships for the purposes of sharing counterfeit tactics. And, because the Defendants are being described as a counterfeit network, that permits the NBA to sue the current grouping of sellers in one lawsuit. 

The NBA wants to try to inhibit the amount of counterfeit sales and so has moved forward with the trademark action. The Plaintiff isn’t going to just hope that the filing of the lawsuit itself is enough, either. To stop the Defendants from selling any more allegedly unauthorized products, the NBA will seek a temporary restraining order. After the court approves the injunction, the sellers’ online marketplace accounts will be frozen. Again, it’s a temporary restraining order, but indeed, sellers won’t have access to their funds. Any money earned from selling NBA products will be frozen, which could have a major impact on e-commerce operations. Having your own legal team to represent your position in this scenario will only be a benefit! 

Stockman & Poropat, PLLC is the Intellectual Property Law Firm You Can Rely On

An alternative method of reaching a resolution is by taking on the negotiations yourself, without an attorney. This isn’t likely to turn out in any Defendant’s favor, as direct settlement negotiations typically leave sellers with just over half of the money in their frozen accounts. Stockman & Poropat, PLLC wants what is best for you and your e-commerce business. We will carefully craft a specific legal strategy for you and implement that strategy to gain the outcome you deserve! 

Below, we’ll share a selection of the counterfeit and infringement allegations as seen in the NBA lawsuit’s legal complaint: 

Many Defendants also 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. Other e-commerce stores operating under Seller Aliases omit using NBA 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 NBA Products. On information and belief, those Defendants that do not use NBA Trademarks in searchable text do so in an effort to avoid detection of their Counterfeit NBA Products. 

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

Defendants’ unauthorized use of one or more NBA Trademarks in connection with the advertising, distribution, offering for sale, and sale of Counterfeit NBA Products, including 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. 

Contact our team at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC today! 

Download the legal complaint below: 

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