Toyota Federal Lawsuit | Trademark Infringement & Counterfeiting

Toyota has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit, which claims many online sellers have sold counterfeit goods! Are you considering settling with Toyota? If you are, that’s definitely an option. Is it the most sensible one? Perhaps not. The bulk of Defendants in infringement cases like these reach settlements with the Plaintiff at usually 60% of the money in their frozen account. Why? Because of a temporary restraining order! You may consider that amount to be reasonable. But, it’s not the only option available! Sellers may want to seek the quickest possible solution. A settlement can alleviate you from the claims made against you. However, it’s often worth retaining legal counsel and working on a legal strategy that can allow you to keep more of you money. 

Take a glance at our many other posts regarding federal counterfeit lawsuits. You’ll notice that in each of the complaints associated with these cases, the language contained therein is basically the same! That’s due to the fact that these suits are all Schedule A cases. The Plaintiff’s lawsuit is part of a filing trend, especially popular in the state of Illinois. Schedule A filing permits big brands to claim that a great many Defendants collectively sold counterfeit products. This way, companies like Toyota can more effectively address trademark infringement. Is it accurate or fair? Not always. That’s why we strongly urge sellers to weigh their options and go forward with their own legal action, if they can afford to do so. 

What Schedule A Lawsuits Claim… Trademark Infringement Lawsuit

Here is a selection of the claims (these are direct quotes):

• Defendants facilitate sales of Counterfeit Toyota Products by designing the e-commerce stores operating under the Seller Aliases so that they appear to unknowing consumers to be authorized online retailers, outlet stores, or wholesalers
• Defendants also deceive unknowing consumers by using one or more Toyota 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 Toyota Products.
• E-commerce store operators like Defendants are in constant communication with each other and regularly participate in QQ.com chat rooms and through websites such as sellerdefense.cn and kuajingvs.com regarding tactics for operating multiple accounts, evading detection, pending litigation, and potential new lawsuits. 

Just because these kinds of claims have been made doesn’t mean all of the sellers truly engaged in the described activities. Counterfeiting and trademark infringement is rampant. Anyone who sells products online knows as much. Lots of sellers do in fact sell unauthorized goods. The result of the widespread counterfeiting online means that brands, Toyota among them, suffer financial loss. It can also harm a brand’s reputation. That’s the reason for the Toyota federal lawsuit. Other sellers who abide by the law suffer, too. If many sellers are purveying fake products, the assumption will inevitably be that most sellers are, as well. It’s unfortunate. Any business that sells on Amazon may have been through the troublesome difficulty of an infringement claim. It’s disruptive and creates a negative atmosphere overall in the marketplace. 

Brands Are Trying to Combat Counterfeiting

These Schedule A lawsuits address that rampant counterfeiting. Temu, Etsy, eBay, Walmart, Amazon, and other platforms are where it takes place. While not all of the Defendants named committed infringement, the temporary restraining order freezes everyone’s assets regardless. If you’ve sold Toyota branded products on these platforms, that could be the reason why you’ve been named. As we mentioned, you’ll achieve the best outcome by retaining legal counsel and using an attorney to help you navigate the process. The Defendants should provide a response to the Toyota federal lawsuit. That way you won’t be thrust into the more serious position of having to deal with a Default Judgment. Notably, anyone who doesn’t respond or do anything in response will permit Toyota to take all of the money in their account. That could mean thousands of dollars that you’ve earned! 

We want sellers to maintain a hold on as much of their money as they can when it comes to the Toyota federal lawsuit. Walking away from the lawsuit is not usually a beneficial approach. You owe it to yourself to resolve the legal issue and to clear yourself from the accusations of counterfeiting. If you’re based in China or anywhere else in the world, don’t be intimidated! Even if you don’t understand the legal system in the United States, even if you don’t know how to respond to the lawsuit, that’s totally fine! Intellectual property attorneys exist for this exact reason. Our team at Stockman & Poropat, PLLC will create a legal solution on your behalf. We can work with you to respond to the court, negotiate a more favorable settlement outcome, and/or ensure you get to keep your hard-earned money. Contact our office today for a free consultation!

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Up next we will be discussing the Levi’s Schedule A Trademark Lawsuit.