Online Sellers Who Sold 7pipe Products Sued for Patent Infringement
Has your online business recently been hit with a temporary restraining order (TRO) because you sold 7pipe products? The reason that happened is because of the Tyger Manufacturing patent infringement lawsuit. Tyger Manufacturing is the owner of the 7pipe patents. Since the company believes that the named sellers sold infringing goods to consumers, they are suing to recover damages.
Any sellers who haven’t retained an attorney should do so at the earliest possible moment! An intellectual property lawyer is an invaluable resource in this situation. Would you like to settle with Tyger Manufacturing? Or, negotiate any other outcome so that your business doesn’t go under? Either way, you’ll want an attorney on your side. Some sellers may want to establish to the court that they didn’t actually infringe on the 7pipe product patents. A selection of the Defendants might want to clear up that they aren’t guilty of the allegations waged against them. To accomplish all of the above and more, you can rely on your intellectual property lawyer!
The 7pipe Infringement Lawsuit & Temporary Restraining Orders
Since this case was filed at the beginning of June, 2024, the court has already approved a temporary restraining order. The TRO, as the sellers may have already experienced, stops the Defendants from accessing their seller accounts. That’s across platforms, ranging from Amazon, eBay, Alibaba, and Wish.com, to Walmart, Etsy, AliExpress, and DHgate. The TRO makes it so that sellers can’t touch the money in those accounts. The restraining order also impedes sellers’ ability to continue selling 7pipe branded goods. It could potentially also affect other branded products.
The patent infringement lawsuit is undeniably disruptive to your business! But, its existence and reality aren’t due to a random act of cruelty on the part of Tyger Manufacturing. As the owner of the patent, the company legitimately believes that sellers have infringed on their intellectual property. Even your brand may have suffered from infringement at one time. The more successful the brand and product, the more likely actual infringement will occur. Now, does that mean that you and your business definitely infringed on the patent in question? No, it doesn’t! Your attorney can assess the details of what your online business did and didn’t do in relation to the lawsuit.
Tyger Manufacturing Sues Online Sellers
As a result of the Plaintiff’s belief that patent infringement took place, they filed this Schedule A federal lawsuit. By doing so, they are granted the power to sue multiple online sellers – the Defendants – as a batch of alleged infringers, rather than on an individual basis, one by one. Our firm has covered a myriad of various infringement cases and this one isn’t too different. The similarity is inherent in the strategy Plaintiffs usually adhere to regarding settlements. By launching claims of patent infringement at many sellers, rather than just one, they can more effectively recover damages via settlements made directly with those sellers.
Online sellers who get named in federal infringement lawsuits are sometimes intimidated. That very well could also be part of Tyger Manufacturing’s legal strategy. As noted in the legal complaint tied to the case, “On information and belief, Defendants reside and/or operate in the People’s Republic of China or other foreign jurisdictions.” If you’re based in China or any other country outside the United States, you might not be familiar with the US legal system, even though you sell products to customers in America. It’s plausible that you may also not be fluent in English, which is somewhat of a necessity to fully comprehend the details of the lawsuit. These factors and others can scare online sellers once they learn of the lawsuit and that they’re being sued! So, they may just settle with the Plaintiff directly because they deem that the easiest way to move forward.
Should You Settle Directly With Tyger Manufacturing?
We want you to know that settlements made directly with brands result in sellers getting only a small portion of their money, on average. Having an attorney to work with you and facilitate a resolution for you, settlement or otherwise, will benefit your business in the short and long term. Do you want to just keep 60% of your money, even though you earned 100% of it? Of course you wouldn’t want to accept that! With an intellectual property attorney, you can fortify your business and expand your options for legal resolution without such a drastic financial compromise.
Allegations of Patent Infringement | Tyger Manufacturing & 7pipe
What follows are some of the allegations made by Tyger Manufacturing concerning what they believe to be patent infringement on their 7pipe products:
Defendants are making, using, offering for sale, selling, and/or importing into the United States for subsequent sale or use Infringing Products that infringe directly and/or indirectly the ornamental design claimed in the 7pipe Design.
[They] have infringed the 7pipe Design through the aforesaid acts and will continue to do so unless enjoined by this Court. Defendants’ wrongful conduct has caused Plaintiff to suffer irreparable harm resulting from the loss of its lawful patent rights to exclude others from making, using, selling, offering for sale, and importing the patented invention. Plaintiff is entitled to injunctive relief.
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.
Call Stockman & Poropat, PLLC Today!
If your business is struggling in any way because of this patent infringement lawsuit, contact our team right away! Stockman & Poropat, PLLC offers a free initial consultation. Let us develop a creative legal solution for you and your business today.
Download the legal complaint below:
Up next we will be discussing the Atomic Heart Video Game Trademark Lawsuit.
