1. POP IT! Stress Relief Toys - Plaintiff: FoxMind Canada Enterprises Ltd.
- Prosecution date: March 25, 2024
- Reason for prosecution: Trademark infringement
- Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
FoxMind Canada Enterprises Ltd. is a private toy company whose toys are dedicated to stimulating children's thinking ability, reasoning skills and spatial logic ability, and are very popular among consumers. I believe everyone is familiar with the POP IT stress-relieving toy "Rat Killer" that has become popular on TikTok. It is a popular product of FoxMind Canada Enterprises Ltd. This Whack-a-Mole-like toy is extremely popular in overseas markets and has been sold out many times. Its popularity remains unabated and it continues to lead the trend in the toy market. Driven by this craze, many products similar to POP IT decompression toys have emerged. However, the plaintiff has already registered the relevant trademark for this brand, and any unauthorized use of its trademark constitutes an infringement. Searching for "POP IT!" on Amazon, it is not difficult to find that many links involve the use of relevant text descriptions, and the pictures also show the POP IT! trademark. Some products even sold more than 1,000 units last month. It is reported that several sellers have received TRO for suspected infringement. The seller will face extremely high legal risks if he continues to use the relevant trademarks without authorization . 2. BMC Optical Gaming Mouse - Plaintiff: Better Mouse Company, LLC
- Prosecution date: March 20, 2024
- Reason for prosecution: Patent infringement
- Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
- Law firm: Ni, Wang & Massand
The plaintiff, Better Mouse Company, LLC, is a patent licensing company that primarily owns an invention patent for a device that sets a multi-level displacement resolution for a mouse, which is suitable for gaming mice. The patented product involved in this case is an e-sports mouse, with patent number US 7,532,200 B2 and the date of approval of the patent is March 12, 2009. When searching for related products on Amazon, you can find that there are still many links for the same products on sale, as high as 50,000, and many of the links had sales of over 10,000 last month. 3. Corset belt - Plaintiff: Hexin Holding Limited
- Prosecution date: March 26, 2024
- Reason for prosecution: Copyright infringement
- Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
The plaintiff, Hexin Holding Limited, is a women's shapewear design company headquartered in Hong Kong, and is deeply involved in the field of women's tights products. The company has a rich product line, covering many categories such as body shaping pants, chest belts, corsets, waist and leg shaping belts, etc. These products focus on comfort and practicality in design, meeting the diverse needs of female consumers for body shaping products. Among them, corset belts are the star products of Hexin Holding Limited, with outstanding sales, so there are endless products similar to corset belts on the market. In order to maintain the good brand image, the plaintiff has shown a very resolute attitude towards infringement. In recent years, it has continued to increase its efforts to combat infringement and has carried out patent and copyright protection actions many times. Judging from the plaintiff’s copyright information, it includes photos of tights and body shaping related videos, and any unauthorized use will involve the risk of infringement. In addition to copyright, which requires special attention, the plaintiff also owns patents related to the product, which are listed here for sellers' reference. The plaintiff's U.S. patent number for a corset belt is US D981,078S, which was applied for on August 30, 2021 and officially approved on March 21, 2023. In addition to the new lawsuit filed on March 26, the plaintiff also filed rights protection lawsuits on January 11 and February 21 of this year, also claiming "copyright infringement." This shows that the plaintiffs are still combating infringements quite frequently, and sellers should do a good job of relevant investigation. 4. Towel Rack - Prosecution date: February 29, 2024
- Reason for prosecution: Patent infringement
- Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
The sales of towel racks on Amazon are relatively stable. Their main function is to conveniently hang towels, bath towels and other items, making the bathroom more tidy and orderly. It is understood that the towel rack patent involved in this case is a Chinese patent, the US patent number is US D1,000862 S, and the approval date of the certificate is October 10, 2023.
It is worth noting that the court has extended the validity period of the TRO motion to April 9 at the request of the plaintiff. Therefore, sellers involved in relevant appearance patents should take prompt action to remove related products and conduct a comprehensive self-examination to ensure compliance. In summary, “no matter how small the infringement is, it is a big deal”. Now Amazon, Shein, TikTok Shop E-commerce platforms such as Alibaba and Alibaba are paying more and more attention to intellectual property rights. Therefore, sellers should also be more vigilant in their business operations, prevent infringements, and strengthen their awareness of self-protection.
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