Online Sellers Accused of Selling Counterfeit Products | FCA Trademark Action
FCA, or Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, has moved forward with the filing of a lawsuit over trademark infringement. The company owns trademarks connected to a variety of brands. These include Chrysler, Dodge, Fiat, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Opel, Peugeot, Ram, Vauxhall, Alfa Romeo, and Citroen. If you’ve been listed as a Defendant in the lawsuit, it’s because you sold FCA branded products to consumers online.
The sellers who are getting sued by FCA should attempt to understand the allegations against them. The benefit of being informed is that you’ll be able to more successfully navigate this entire situation. Essentially, the Defendants should seriously consider their own legal action in response to that taken by FCA. Rest assured, Stockman & Poropat, PLLC believes in protecting the reputation and money of online sellers accused of intellectual property infringement!
FCA Trademark Infringement Allegations | Fiat, Chrysler Sues Over Counterfeiting
For the sake of keeping the Defendants in-the-know, we’ll share a few selections from the legal complaint. As you may glean from these excerpts, FCA is going to try and determine that sellers engaged in various types of infringement. Let’s take a look:
Many Defendants also deceive unknowing consumers by using one or more FCA 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 FCA Products.
Defendants are collectively causing harm to Plaintiff’s goodwill and reputation because the effect of their unlawful actions taken together amplifies each harm and creates a single negative consumer impression. Defendants’ activities, occurring at the same time and in the same retail space and manner as one another, blend together to create a single negative impression on consumers such that they constitute the same occurrence or series of occurrences.
The combination of all Defendants engaging in the same illegal activity in the same time span causes a collective harm to Plaintiff in a way that individual actions, occurring alone, might not.
Understanding the Details of the FCA Trademark Infringement
Maybe you’ve read the FCA allegations. And maybe your first response comes in the form of an impulse to settle with the Plaintiff. The Defendants are absolutely permitted to attempt to reach a direct settlement with FCA. At the same time, this decision should likely not be made frivolously, as it can affect your entire business. What’s key to know is that the majority of settlements reached directly, as opposed to utilizing the services of an attorney, leave sellers with an unfavorable outcome. It’s very possible that you’d be directly settling for an amount that results in a loss for your e-commerce operation. Before taking this route, consult with our team at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC for free!
As you may have noted, among the allegations put forward by FCA is the claim that the Defendants constitute a counterfeit network. The Plaintiff states that the “collective” actions of the named sellers, in the way of trademark infringement, have caused significant damage to FCA’s reputation. The contention is that by allegedly working together, the Defendants have eroded consumer trust in FCA and its associated branded products. The lawsuit itself, too, is filed specifically to address foundational allegation. In that, this is a “Schedule A” trademark action. Wherein multiple sellers are being sued in a single action, rather than individually.
FCA Alleges Defendants Formed Counterfeit Network
Furthermore, FCA alleges that the Defendants share certain pieces of information that aid with the sale of unauthorized products online. The Plaintiff claims that these tactics are shared in such a way which permits the active sale of counterfeit goods to consumers. Overall, whether any given Defendant is actually guilty of these actions is to be determined. Our firm is interested in guarding your business against any damage caused by the FCA trademark infringement suit!
The primary step to take to protect your business is to submit a response to the lawsuit. By responding in a timely fashion, you’ll acknowledge receipt of the lawsuit’s notice. You’ll want to provide this response to avoid the outcome that can be a Default Judgment. If and/or when a DJ is issued by the court, a Defendant might be compelled to give up a large amount of their money. This probably isn’t something that any of the named sellers would prefer. Therefore, if you’d like to prevent this, just respond!
For the Defendants’ knowledge, the greatest disruption will be the lawsuit’s associated temporary restraining order. FCA will have the court approve the restraining order to halt further sales of counterfeit products. To achieve this, the restraining order will freeze the funds across all marketplace accounts. Undoubtedly, it’s going to be a disruption for e-commerce sellers. You need access to your money! Stockman & Poropat, PLLC knows exactly how frustrating this sort of trademark infringement lawsuit can be and we want to alleviate your stress as much as possible.
Contact our team at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC today for a free initial consultation!
Download the legal complaint below:
Up next read up on how DreamWorks Filed a Trademark Infringement Lawsuit, Alleging Online Sellers Offered Counterfeit Shrek Goods to Consumers.
