Online Sellers Sued by FCA for Infringement
Are you an e-commerce seller? Is FCA suing you for trademark infringement? If that’s the situation, you may want to hire an intellectual property attorney! A federal infringement lawsuit is not something you want to downplay. The seriousness of the FCA lawsuit should be acknowledged. We know that the suit will likely get in the way of your normal way of doing business. And we don’t want to see anyone lose an unnecessary amount of money. As a seller, you deserve legal protection and representation – our team is here to help!
What precisely about the lawsuit is going to cause the sellers to lose money? It’s a little thing called a temporary restraining order. As with other Schedule A infringement lawsuits, FCA will obtain approval for a TRO from the court. The reason the company is intent on getting a restraining order is to halt what they believe is an overwhelming amount of counterfeiting. To accomplish that, the TRO will freeze the sellers’ online accounts. What will that look like? You won’t be able to access the money earned from the sale of FCA branded goods. Potentially, the restraining order could also affect earnings from selling other products, too. Now, isn’t that enough of a reason to take the lawsuit seriously?!
How to Respond to the FCA Lawsuit
How do sellers rid their business and seller accounts of the temporary restraining order? For starters, you’ll want to definitely respond to the court. If you’re a Defendant, not responding could cost you even more money and become a bigger headache. Ever heard of a Default Judgment? We hope you haven’t! A lack of a response to the lawsuit might lead the court to issue a Default Judgment against you. When that outcome presents itself, the chances of overturning the decision are on the slimmer side. It’s better to address the lawsuit within a timely fashion with a response and go from there. Also, not responding could mean that FCA will be awarded all of the money in your frozen account. Are you prepared to take action? Our attorneys are ready to work with you!
It’s not uncommon for sellers getting sued by companies like FCA to consider negotiating a settlement directly with the Plaintiff. That option isn’t outside the realm of possibility. Sellers have the power to try and negotiate on their own. That being said, it may not be the best method for getting a favorable resolution. The direct settlements that most sellers reach with Plaintiffs usually allow sellers to maintain only 60% of their frozen money. When you work with an intellectual property attorney, the negotiations are much more likely to fall in your favor!
Federal Infringement Lawsuits
Our attorneys have helped online sellers across the globe navigate trademark infringement lawsuits like this. Frustration and intimidation are some of the responses that sellers have when they receive notice that they’re being sued. We get it! A federal lawsuit can be scary and also quite irritating insofar as it disrupts your e-commerce business. And while FCA is a major company with a robust amount of agency, the named sellers are also in a position to do something. Such as, hire their own intellectual property lawyer! Once legal representation has been retained, sellers can rest assured that they’re navigating the lawsuit with a legitimate, practical strategy.
The trademarks infringement allegedly occurred with the sale of several unauthorized products. The platforms where the goods were offered, per the Plaintiff, include Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Etsy, DHgate, Wish.com, and more. To get a more in-depth look at FCA’s allegations of infringement, we can look to the legal complaint. The full range of claims is presented therein. The named sellers ought to take some time to read the legal complaint. If you have any questions about the allegations, you can then discuss them with one of our attorneys!
FCA Claims Trademark Infringement
Below, we will share a selection of the language contained in the legal complaint, outlining the overall claims:
FCA has identified numerous fully interactive, e-commerce stores offering Counterfeit Products on online marketplace platforms such as Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, Alibaba, Wish.com, Walmart, Etsy, DHgate, TikTok, and Temu, including the e-commerce stores operating under the Seller Aliases.
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. Other e-commerce stores operating under Seller Aliases omit using FCA 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 FCA Products.
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 FCA Trademarks without FCA’s permission.
Contact our team at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC for a free initial consultation!
Download the legal complaint below:
Up next we’ll be discussing the latest Canada Goose Trademark Infringement Lawsuit.
