Online Sellers Sued | NBA Trademark Infringement

When sellers receive notice that they’re being sued for trademark infringement, it can be a frustrating and confusing experience. Is there a right and wrong way to handle the news? Perhaps you’re even uncertain about the first step you should take. If the NBA is suing you, you need to respond to the lawsuit! That’s the biggest concern once you’ve been notified of the situation. Without a response, the court may ultimately escalate to a Default Judgment. When a Default Judgment is issued, it may cost sellers even more money than the original lawsuit. And, if you choose to work with our stellar team of attorneys, we can work with you to ensure that doesn’t happen.

What is it that makes the NBA trademark lawsuit so incredibly frustrating? It may appear obvious, but it’s the temporary restraining order that the court will approve. This can be a huge disruption to your e-commerce business. Why is that? When a restraining order is put into motion, it will place a freeze on sellers’ accounts. And the money that sellers earned from selling NBA products before the lawsuit? Those funds will be frozen, too. You won’t be able to access that money! The reason for the TRO is to prevent the Defendants from selling any more counterfeit goods to consumers. Does the restraining order’s scope necessarily implicate sellers in wrongdoing? The exact details of your business practice needs to be evaluated in order to determine any sort of guilt.

Work With an Intellectual Property Attorney!

As a law firm, we absolutely believe that sellers will benefit from working with an intellectual property attorney. A lawyer will most especially be helpful when it comes to the negotiation stage of the lawsuit. Sellers are entitled to try and negotiate with the Plaintiff on their own, but the probable outcome of that effort may be subpar. As a matter of fact, it’s been documented that direct settlements in trademark infringement cases can result in sellers getting only about half of their frozen funds. Our lawyers want to do much better than that for you! An experienced negotiator who has worked with sellers in the same position all over the world will likely be better for your business in the long term.

Because our team has such vast experience working with e-commerce business owners, we sympathize with sellers. Being frustrated with the nature of the NBA infringement lawsuit is completely normal! Why? Because it is frustrating. But, that doesn’t mean it’s a loss, and it doesn’t mean you’re without options. By retaining an intellectual property attorney, sellers will be equipping themselves with the greatest available resource. The lawsuit, the restraining order, and the negotiation process can truly hurt a seller’s overall business. Our goal is to minimize that damage, get you the money you deserve, and set you up for long term success!

Are the Allegations Accurate?

The NBA federal counterfeit lawsuit consists of several allegations aimed at online sellers. According to the Plaintiff, the Defendants acted as a network of infringers, communicating with one another, so as to maintain their sales for as long as they could. The unlawful actions identified by NBA took place on a number of online selling platforms. Among them, Amazon, eBay, Walmart, Wish.com, DHgate, Etsy, Alibaba, and more. Are the allegations accurate? Did the sellers actually do what the Plaintiff says? The degree to which the Defendants engaged in the behavior described by the NBA varies from seller to seller.

Either way, because the NBA has alleged that the Defendants sold their products in an unauthorized way, the lawsuit exists and must be addressed. What sellers can do is read the legal complaint to gather information on what the allegations explicitly state. The seriousness of the NBA lawsuit is inherent in the legal language. Knowing the details of the allegations can be helpful in numerous ways.

NBA Claims Trademark Infringement

Let’s take a look at a selection of the allegations below:

[Sellers’] promotion, marketing, offering for sale, and/or sale of the Counterfeit NBA Products has created and is creating a likelihood of confusion, mistake, and deception among the general public as to the affiliation, connection, or association with Plaintiff, or as to the origin, sponsorship, or approval of Defendants’ Counterfeit NBA Products by Plaintiff.

[The sellers’] false designation of origin and misrepresentation of fact as to the origin and/or sponsorship of the Counterfeit NBA Products to the general public involves the use of counterfeit marks and is a willful violation of Section 43 of the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1125.

Defendants are working in active concert to knowingly and willfully manufacture, import, distribute, offer for sale, and sell Counterfeit NBA Products in the same transaction, occurrence, or series of transactions or occurrences. Defendants, without any authorization or license from Plaintiff, have jointly and severally, knowingly and willfully used and continue to use one or more NBA Trademarks in connection with the advertisement, distribution, offering for sale, and/or sale of the Counterfeit NBA Products into the United States and Illinois over the Internet. 

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 Nike Lawsuit Against Online Sellers.