Online Sellers Accused of Trademark Infringement | Bulgari Counterfeit Lawsuit
Bulgari, the Italian fashion brand, filed a federal lawsuit against online sellers, claiming trademark infringement! Rather than assuming the worst, the affected sellers should consider the full range of legal options. Should you settle with Bulgari? That all depends! At Stockman & Poropat, PLLC, we wouldn’t want to see any seller lose money due to frustration or confusion. Rather than throwing your hands up in the air, turn to and rely on our incredible firm!
Bulgari’s Allegations of Intellectual Property Infringement
Before we go further, let’s take a look at a selection of the allegations put forward by Bulgari. This legal language was taken straight from the complaint, which anyone can download at the bottom of this page. These excerpts will serve to illuminate some of the particulars of the case:
The success of the BVLGARI brand has resulted in significant counterfeiting of Bulgari’s trademarks. Consequently, Plaintiff has a worldwide anti-counterfeiting program and regularly investigates suspicious e-commerce stores identified in proactive Internet sweeps and reported by consumers. In recent years, Bulgari has identified many fully interactive e- commerce stores offering counterfeit BVLGARI Products on online marketplace platforms such as PayPal, Amazon, eBay, and Alibaba, including the e-commerce stores operating under the Seller Aliases.
Defendants have targeted sales to Illinois residents by setting up and operating e- commerce stores that target United States consumers using one or more Seller Aliases, offer shipping to the United States, including Illinois, accept payment in U.S. dollars and/or funds from U.S. bank accounts and, on information and belief, have sold Counterfeit BVLGARI Products to residents of Illinois.
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. Bulgari has not licensed or authorized Defendants to use any of the BVLGARI Trademarks and none of the Defendants are authorized retailers of genuine BVLGARI Products.
Bulgari’s Schedule A Trademark Infringement Action
The Bulgari counterfeit lawsuit can be categorized as a Schedule A legal action against e-commerce sellers. Perhaps you’re unfamiliar with the term “Schedule A.” In brief, it means that Bulgari is suing a list of online sellers over alleged infringement. For comparison, consider a lawsuit in which an entity is suing just one person for their so-called unlawful actions. According to the Plaintiff’s allegations, this type of lawsuit makes sense because the Defendants worked together. At least, that’s what Bulgari wants to try and prove.
The Plaintiff claims that the Defendants comprise a counterfeit network that shares illicit secrets and tips to pull off this elaborate ruse. Is that actually true?! It may be for a portion of the named sellers, while for others it might be totally irrelevant. That’s just the thing with these Schedule A infringement cases. A group of sellers are uniformly struck with the same allegations, but the actual responsibility will not be the same for all the sellers. Are you knowingly part of a counterfeit network that wants to rip off the American consumer? If not, then retaining an attorney at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC is going to be an asset.
And, would anyone willingly take the blame or punishment for actions they didn’t themselves engage in? We would assume not. The reason we say this is, some sellers might want to consider the option of a direct settlement. Any of the Defendants may attempt to reach such a settlement with Bulgari, but it may not prove to yield the fairest outcome. The average reported settlement percentage in these cases hovers at about 60%. So if any seller were to take that route, they’d be willingly giving up a substantial amount of earnings. Rather than taking this quick fix option, we encourage e-commerce operators to look into their own legal options!
E-Commerce Operators’ Online Seller Accounts Will Be Frozen…
As we noted above, the sellers are going to be somewhat equally impacted by the Bulgari counterfeit lawsuit and its allegations. Even though the degree of responsibility for the supposed unlawful, infringing actions will be individual in scope. What we’re referring to is the temporary restraining order that the court will approve on Bulgari’s behalf. The Plaintiff wants to impose the restraining order to prohibit the named sellers from offering any more counterfeit goods. Schedule A lawsuits like this one often include an injunction, as it’s an effective legal tool. It’s likely that the restraining order will disrupt your e-commerce business. Therefore, the sooner you establish a working relationship with our top-notch intellectual property attorneys the better!
What makes the restraining order such a difficult beast is that it freezes online seller accounts. So, as a Defendant, you’ll be blocked from accessing money earned from the sale of Bulgari goods. Sometimes, the injunction applies to funds earned from companies other than the Plaintiff, too. All in all, having your money tied up isn’t exactly good for business. So if you want to rid yourself of the temporary restraining order and return to a normal state of operation wherein you make money, contact Stockman & Poropat, PLLC!
Contact our team at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC today for a free initial consultation!
Download the legal complaint below:
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