Online Sellers Sued by BBC For Selling Counterfeit Bluey Products

Have you been accused of selling counterfeit Bluey products in the latest BBC Studios federal lawsuit? You may want to hire an attorney! In Schedule A infringement lawsuits, the Defendants will sometimes decide to directly settle with the Plaintiff. If you’re one of the named sellers, make sure you know what that may entail! If you choose to forgo hiring an intellectual property attorney? You might be losing out on a substantial amount of money. Your own money, to be more exact. What do we mean by that?! 

When accused infringers seek to settle with BBC, for example, what happens? They’ll likely only walk away with about half of their money. The reason why is because the Plaintiff will get the court to approve a temporary restraining order. With the restraining order, all of the Defendants’ seller accounts will be frozen. So, the sellers named in the suit won’t be permitted to touch the money in those accounts. When it comes down to the option of direct settlements? Big companies like the BBC often offer sellers approximately 60% of those frozen assets. Why would anyone elect to agree to that kind of deal? Because they may want to just move on or get back to selling. And/or they may not know that the loss is avoidable. Get an attorney to work with you and your chances of getting a favorable settlement improve dramatically. 

Respond to the BBC/Bluey Federal Infringement Lawsuit

Before you get into that part of the lawsuit, you’ll need to respond to the court. This is a crucial and imperative step in terms of handling the situation. Failure to respond may result in a Default Judgment being made against you and your business. When that happens, the decision is usually permanent and it could cost sellers quite a lot of money. Make sure to respond to the lawsuit! It’s not a joke, it’s not a mistake, it’s not something to pretend isn’t happening. Your money and your online selling business is at stake. Following the submission of a response, then sellers can enter into the negotiation process. Again, do so with the assistance of an experienced intellectual property attorney. That may prove more effective than going at it alone. 

And if any of the Defendants are feeling confused as to why they’ve been named in the lawsuit? The reasons are laid out in the legal complaint itself. We recommend thoroughly reading through the complaint. Make an attempt to understand the allegations of infringement as much as you can. The BBC trademark and copyright infringement claims pertain to the Plaintiff’s Bluey products. If any of the sellers are unable to fully comprehend the allegations of infringement, an attorney can help you with this matter, as well! Indeed, any questions that you want to ask, you should ask your lawyer. If your business is based in China or another country outside the United States, you still have the right to hire an attorney. The legal system in the US can be difficult to navigate. Especially for anyone who isn’t a lawyer themselves! 

Sold Bluey Products Online? BBC Sues Online Sellers

If you’ve been named in the BBC trademark and copyright lawsuit over Bluey products, retaining a lawyer will be a sensible decision. There’s no need to further limit your options in terms of how you may operate as an online seller. The temporary restraining order impacts each business to varying degrees, but more or less results in loss for every one of the Defendants. To lessen the amount of loss that your business will absorb, utilize the services of our attorneys at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC. 

The main reason why BBC is suing sellers over Bluey products is due to their belief that their intellectual property was infringed on. The reasons, in full, are slightly more complex and detailed, but that’s the gist of it. The temporary restraining order’s design is to prevent sellers from continuing to allegedly sell counterfeit Bluey products. Even though the claims of infringement have yet to be proven, the restraining order and the lawsuit still need to be dealt with in a timely manner. That being said, having an intellectual property attorney that you can rely on will overall save you time and money and keep your business from going under. 

Schedule A Federal Infringement Lawsuit: BBC Sues Online Sellers

Here, we will share a selection of the language from the legal complaint itself. The following excerpts describe some of the allegations of trademark and copyright infringement:

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. Bluey has not licensed or authorized Defendants to use the BLUEY Trademarks or copy or distribute the Bluey Copyrighted Work, and none of the Defendants are authorized retailers of genuine Bluey Products. 

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

[Sellers] are working in active concert to knowingly and willfully manufacture, import, distribute, offer for sale, and sell Unauthorized Bluey Products in the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences. Defendants, without any authorization or license from Bluey, have jointly and severally, knowingly and willfully used and continue to use the BLUEY Trademarks and/or copies of the Bluey Copyrighted Work in connection with the advertisement, distribution, offering for sale, and sale of Unauthorized Bluey Products into the United States and Illinois over the Internet.

Defendants have sold, offered to sell, marketed, distributed, and advertised, and are still selling, offering to sell, marketing, distributing, and advertising products using counterfeit reproductions of the BLUEY Trademarks without Bluey’s permission. 

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

Download the legal complaint below:

Up next we will be discussing the latest Marshall Amplification Trademark Infringement Lawsuit.