[Practical Tips] Full process of Amazon infringement complaint with template

Have you ever infringed your rights without realizing it, but had your sales rights ruthlessly revoked?

Have you ever been suddenly complained by someone, but they didn’t tell you the reason for the infringement, and your listing died inexplicably?

Have you ever been complained by a trademark or patent owner, but had no idea whether you were actually infringing on the patent and could only sigh and accept the defeat?

Have you ever been notified of infringement even though you clearly did not infringe any rights, and you were helpless and didn't know what to do?

The editor has tried his best and racked his brains, hoping to help everyone, and to give you an idea step by step from analysis to writing an appeal email, and to give you a reference.

The following templates are for reference only. They are not a panacea. I hope they can provide some reference and inspiration for everyone, so that you can find a suitable way of appeal based on your specific situation .

Part 1. Don’t panic when receiving a complaint email

                                   Generally speaking, the format of the official complaint notification emails received by our sellers is as follows:

Hello,

We received a report from a rights owner that the items at the end of this email infringe their utility patent rights. (Reason for complaint: Invention patent infringement)

If you want to resolve this dispute,contact the rights owner:

-- xxxx xxxx, [email protected] (The email suffix can sometimes reveal the company name of the complaining party)

-- Patent number: US xxxxxxxxxxxx

Please work directly with the rights owner to resolve this matter.

ASIN: xxxxxxxxxxxx (ASIN code) -xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Title of the infringing Listing)

Complaint ID: xxxxxxx

Sincerely,

Amazon.com

Don’t panic after receiving the email. Pay close attention to every key point mentioned in the email:

1.ASIN number 2.Reason for complaint 3.Email address of complainant 4.Official opinion

In most cases, the official advice is "Please work directly with the rights owner to resolve this matter", allowing us to contact the complainant to resolve the complaint case ourselves.

Part 2. Analyze whether you have infringed the rights

First of all, don’t assume that you must have infringed your rights just because the other party says so. Today’s business world is like a battlefield, and there are many malicious competitors who will make malicious complaints!

You need to do an analysis and re-examine your products and listings to see if there is any infringement.

If the complaint email contains the reason for infringement, for example, you have been informed of the infringement of the other party's trademark rights, the other party's trademark name is XXX, and the other party's trademark registration number is XXXX, then you can directly go to the official website of the Trademark Office to check whether this trademark really exists.

Whether the category of the other party's registered trademark matches the category of the product being complained about. For example, if the other party uses a Category 25 (clothing) trademark to complain about the electronic products you sell, that is not valid because trademarks are protected by categories.

If the other party uses a Chinese trademark to complain about your sales on Amazon’s US site, that is also invalid because trademarks are protected regionally.

If the complaint email does not mention the specific reason for the infringement, you can also make a preliminary judgment on your own to determine whether you have actually infringed the rights.

First, does the listing description contain someone else’s trademark? Do the product’s trademark and text on the image contain someone else’s trademark? Second, if the product image is downloaded from the Internet, does the image infringe copyright?

In addition, does the product have invention and appearance patent protection?

You can learn about trademarks, patents, and copyrights by clicking on "Detailed Explanation of the Trademark, Patent, and Copyright Search Process in China, the United States, and Europe".

Part 3. Process and reply emails

If the complaint email does not mention the specific reason for the infringement, then the first thing you need to do is to follow Amazon's official requirements - first contact the complaining party, and copy Amazon officials, asking the other party to inform you of the reason for the infringement and conduct friendly negotiations.

The contact email template is as follows:

Dear Sirs,

I am XXXX, Amazon seller of the ASIN:XXXXXXXXXX. We are informed that this product infringes your intellectualproperty right.

First of all, I apologize for that if wedid. When we received the infringement notice, we immediately check thelisting. As you can see, we have our owner brand, thus, we are not sure whatkind of intellectual right we infringed, we hope you can tell us. And wesincerely hope to solve this in an amicable way. If we did infringed yourproperty right, we promise not to do that again.

We are waiting for your soon reply.

Sincerely,

XXXXXX (signature)

On behalf of XXXX(shop name)

If the infringement notice email clearly states that it is a copyright, design patent, or invention patent infringement, you can find the complaining party's company information through the contact's email suffix, and then check the copyright and patent status of that company.

Then start writing emails to the complaining party.

The contact email template is as follows:

Dear Sirs,

I am XXXX, Amazon seller of the ASIN:XXXXXXXXXX. We are informed that this product infringes your design patent(copyright/ invention patent).

First of all, I apologize if we infringedyour right . When we received the infringement notice, we immediately remove the listing and we will not sell the product of your design. And we sincerelyhope to solve this in an amicable way. Now our store have been blocked byAmazon because we infringes your design patent. remove the complaint.We are a seller of good faith, and we hope you can remove your complaint later.We promise we carefully check all our products before selling, and won't make the same mistake again.

We are waiting for your soon reply.

Sincerely,

XXXXXX (signature)

On behalf of XXXX(shop name)

If the other party does not respond after contact , then contact them several times, once a day, and keep the contact email evidence to show that we are proactive and sincere in handling this case.

If there is still no result after multiple contacts, you can send another email to Amazon with the email evidence of multiple contacts to the complaining party, stating that according to our analysis, there is no infringement, and that the complaining party has not responded after multiple contacts.

We respect intellectual property rights very much. We have our own trademarks and patents. Our trademark number is: XXXX, and our patent number is: XXXX. If we infringe on others' rights, we will be very proactive in dealing with it. However, if we do not infringe on others' rights, we will not accept unreasonable penalties.

The contact email template is as follows:

Dear Amazon seller support team,

We got a infringement notice on xxxxxx(date), theASIN: xxxxxxxxx, and we have contacted the holder immediately, but several dayspassed, we have sent e-mails to the complainant for many times, but no reply from them.

For the ASIN: xxxxxxxx, we sold under ourown brand: XXXX (REG. NO. XXXXXXX), besides, we are sure that the pictures of the listing are ours. If the complainant has a design or invention, wehope you can tell us the detail information about that. unreasonable complain. It is so unfair for us. Herewe sincerely hope Amazon can contact the complainant and require them to replyour e-mail, or let them provide their intellectual property right information. And if the complainant did not offer any active intellectual property rightproof, we hope Amazon can unblock our store.

Look forward to your reply soon.

Sincerely,

XXX (signature)

On behalf of XXXX(shop name)

Part 4. Confirm the cause of infringement and file a complaint

After confirming the cause of infringement and determining that we have actually infringed, we should start to re-examine all our listings to see if there is any possibility of similar infringement.

After removing all listings that may infringe the rights , write an email to Amazon to file a complaint. Your attitude in the complaint needs to be sincere, indicating that you are a rookie and that you will not make the same mistake again, as well as the subsequent improvement plan, etc.

The template for the appeal email is as follows:

Dear Amazon,

Thank you very much for giving me a chance to appeal the removal of our Amazon selling privileges .Please see our following information.

Our selling privileges have been removed byAmazon on XXXXX(date), for some of our listings violated related Amazonpolicies,especially infringed intellectual property rights.

First we apologize for our wrong behavior. We will carefully read related Amazon policies before we build new listings, and we will not sell any products that infringe other intellectual propertyright.

We are new seller on Amazon, but we hope wecan have chance to provide selling service on Amazon, we will do our best to be a good faith seller.

We hope Amazon can give me a chance again. If there's any other information you need, please feel free to contact us.

Look forward to your reply soon.

Sincerely,

XXX (signature)

On behalf of XXXX(shop name)

If there is no infringement, then we must argue with reason, analyze the other party's complaint email, the reasons for the complaint, analyze the evidence that we do not infringe, and submit it to Amazon officials. The attitude can be tougher.

However, do not use too many professional terms. After all, Amazon is not a professional intellectual property trial organization. Too many professional terms will make Amazon unable to understand and ask you to continue to contact the complaining party.

The template for the appeal email is as follows:

Dear Amazon seller support team,

We got a infringement notice on xxxxxx(date), theASIN: xxxxxxxxx, and we have contacted the holder immediately, but several dayspassed, we have sent e-mails to the complainant for many times, but no reply from them. Seen the attachments, proof of our contacting records with thecomplainant.

For the ASIN: xxxxxxxx, we sold under ourown brand: XXXX (REG. NO. XXXXXXX). Besides, we are sure that the pictures of the listing are ours. Furthermore, we have design patent as well, its designpatent number is xxxxxxx. And we attach our trademark and design patentcertificates.

We trust ourselves did not infringe anyone's IP right, and the complaint is unreasonable, we hope Amazon can recover our Amazon selling privileges immediately.

If there's any other information you need,please feel free to contact us.

Look forward to your reply soon.

Sincerely,

XXX (signature)

On behalf of XXXX(shop name)

Let me share a few more cases with you~

Case 1: The Legal Name in the account backend is different from the name of the payment account. Amazon keeps asking what the relationship is between the two and how to prove the relationship between the two. It’s like proving that your father is your father in China, and I’ve been asked to prove it many times.

In this case, you must avoid filling in inconsistent content from the very beginning, otherwise you will regret it.

Case 2: If you register a European account using a different credit card than the legal person, Amazon will keep asking you what the relationship is between the two and how to prove the relationship between the two. You need to prove that your mother is your biological mother.

Therefore, when registering in Europe, you must pay attention to using the legal person's credit card to avoid regrets later.

Case 3: When the account background involves people's names, do not change the order arbitrarily, but keep it consistent. Zhang San should always be written as Zhang San, and San Zhang should always be written as San Zhang, that is, always keep it consistent.

So it’s still a matter of keeping the background information consistent to avoid regrets later.

Case 4: Seeing that other accounts are selling a product purchased from 1688, without checking whether the product is infringing, they directly put it on the shelf and start selling, and then the account is closed.

Whether you build your own or follow others, the first thing you should do is to check whether the product infringes your rights. Don't regret it.

Case 5: Authenticity of submitted materials. This is something I always mention in my circle of friends and other places. Many seller friends directly photoshop the materials to be submitted for convenience or speed, which may cause the store to go down.

Really, Amazon’s detection mechanism is so amazing. If you still think you can pass by submitting false information, you will really regret it.

That’s all I have to say about these small cases. Now let’s get to the point. Today we will mainly talk about how to correctly file a complaint if your account is blocked after Amazon infringes your rights.

Case analysis: Complaints of infringement by trademark owners/patent owners

Main points of appeal:

1. Don’t be complacent and remove infringing products as soon as possible. Check the entire store to see if there are any similar products and remove them all.

2. Contact the complainant mentioned in the email, admit that the mistake was unintentional, plead with them, inform them that the product has been removed from the shelves and promise not to sell their brand of products anymore, and copy the email to Amazon’s notice email address.

3. Complaint letter:

- Purchase invoices and other valid certificates can be submitted as supplementary documents

- Indicates that the product has been deleted immediately and is no longer for sale

- Increase product brand/patent/authenticity testing to ensure that there are no issues before putting the product on the shelves

- Set up a dedicated team to verify product information: appearance/brand/factory qualifications, etc.

- Provide supplier contact information and network information to prove that there is a formal purchase channel

- Make sure you don't make the same mistake again

When doing business on the Amazon platform, are you frightened by various infringement complaints? The following are some answers and solutions to infringement issues compiled from the Maiwen platform. I hope it can help all cross-border sellers.

Question: As for infringement, is it okay as long as the brand owner does not file a complaint with Amazon?

Answer: Generally, if you copy and sell some big brands, Amazon will crack down on you. However, if you upload some imitations of big brands, and the brand name does not appear clearly in the title, keywords and other content, and only the appearance is the same, generally there will be no impact only after the brand owner or consumer complains.

Question: If more than a dozen people are following a product, does that mean they can follow suit and sell it?

A: The basis for judging whether or not to follow a sale is not how many people are following it, but the following two major premises:

(1) No infringement (you need to check whether the brand is registered on the brand website first);

(2) Ability to provide identical products. This means that the appearance, packaging, etc. of the products must be exactly the same.

Q: Can I follow the one with the logo ?

A: If there is an obvious logo on the product, it is usually a brand that is being registered or has been approved. It is recommended not to copy it, as it is easy to infringe the rights. Even if there is no brand, if others have a logo and you don’t, it is easy to cause the product description to be inconsistent, and customers are likely to give bad reviews or open disputes. In addition, big sellers generally hate this kind of seller who follows the seller the most. Reviews are public, because the seller who follows the seller may bring bad reviews to the listing if the review is inconsistent with the description, so if they take it seriously, the consequences will be very serious.

Q: Can domestic trademarks be used abroad?

A: Domestic trademarks can be used abroad, but when selling on Amazon, the following two situations may occur:

① If you use a trademark with the same name and the same purpose, we will complain to you, which will affect the security of your account.

② When your domestic trademark achieves some success on Amazon, other sellers may register your trademark name abroad and then file a complaint against you.

In short, because trademarks have territorial protection, domestic trademarks have no rights protection abroad.

Q: Does a brand registered website have to have a shopping cart?

A: Currently, the filing generally requires a website with a shopping cart function, and the approval rate will be higher. If it is just a display website, only one out of dozens of sellers may be approved, which also depends on the handling of the customer service.

Q: Amazon brand registration does not require a trademark , so there is no need to register a trademark at all, right?

Answer: Trademark registration and Amazon brand registration are two different things.

Brand filing is for sellers with trademarks or pure handmade products. In the early filing page, you need to fill in the serial number or reg number and the application channel. After the page was updated, it was simplified. However, if you have a trademark, you need to add the trademark acceptance number or registration number after the company description column. If you don’t have a trademark, you don’t need to make a note.

If you have brand registration, Amazon will calculate and assign GCID based on your ASIN & key attribute when you upload products in batches after registration. This is the so-called omitted UPC.

There is no mandatory requirement for trademark and brand registration. If you do not have a trademark and pass the registration, you will just omit the UPC compared to other unlicensed sellers. This is the same as sellers with domestic trademarks registering on Amazon US. They cannot file complaints when being copied and their rights are not protected. Sellers with trademarks can file trademark infringement complaints in infringement, and logos are different from other general goods, which can achieve the role of brand promotion. We recommend that it is best to have a trademark for registration. The original poster's idea is biased. Registration does not necessarily require a trademark. It just depends on how the merchant uses the trademark to promote and protect their products and safeguard their rights.

Q: How should I create a brand registration website?

A: It is recommended to provide a website that meets the following requirements:

1. Product brand official website (all in English).

2. Use a website with a trademark name as the domain name (if the domain name has been registered by a business in another industry, you can add numbers or letters after the name and then register the domain name)

3. The website must have relevant introduction of the corporate brand, and the company description, address, contact number, email and other information displayed must be consistent with the background reserved information of the Amazon account.

4. The product title on the website needs to start with the brand name; the product must have a price, a shopping button and a checkout function;

Q: If I see a product with “92new ”, does that mean I can follow it?

A: The key to whether or not you can follow others is whether or not the brand is registered, not the number of people following you. As long as you are sure that others have registered brands and you do not have brand authorization, then do not follow them.

Q: It has the appearance of a big brand, but there is no logo. Is this considered a violation?

A: If the brand has a patent for appearance, it will still infringe. Moreover, if the appearance is too similar, there is also the risk of being complained by buyers for selling fakes.

Q: What does it mean to update key attributes of brand registration?

A: When applying for brand registration, Amazon will send you an email asking you to update the key attributes for the previously uploaded listings. For example, if the key attribute you choose is part number, then all listings that use this brand will need to add this column. This value can be freely written, but each value must be unique. After the brand registration is approved, Amazon will automatically generate a GCID code based on the key attributes.

The above are some questions about brands, I hope they can help you.