|
▶ Video account attention cross-border navigation There are storms every year, but this year there are more. As the year draws to a close, sellers are worried about the year-end peak season, but the cross-border circle is still not calm recently. Recently, another big news broke out in the cross-border circle. A Shenzhen intellectual property company was found to be a fraud by the US Intellectual Property Office, and all US trademarks represented by the company will be invalid! The USPTO has issued a ruling against a company On December 10, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued a sanctions order, making a final ruling on the "ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE" previously issued to an intellectual property company in Shenzhen, China . The final ruling revoked more than 15,000 trademarks represented by the company , and permanently closed Ms. Zhang and the company's USPTO accounts , prohibiting the creation or activation of more accounts. ▲ The picture comes from the official website of the United States Trademark Office The announcement shows that the sanctions imposed by the US Trademark Office on the companies involved include but are not limited to: - abandonment of an application or termination of proceedings before the USPTO;
- Preventing it from filing any documents with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office regarding trademark matters;
- Terminate the affected myUSPTO.gov account through which all electronic forms must be submitted.
In fact, as early as June this year, the news that more than 14,000 trademarks represented by the company would be forcibly revoked spread throughout the cross-border circle. It was learned that at that time, a screenshot of an announcement from the official website of the U.S. Intellectual Property Office was leaked. After carefully checking the content of the announcement, it was found that it was the same as the name of the intellectual property company that was recently sanctioned. ▲ The picture comes from the official website of the United States Trademark Office In addition, a seller shared a screenshot of an email received by a senior executive of the company from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The content is as follows: The USPTO has reason to believe that your company and your employees, agents, affiliates, or officers have violated the USPTO’s Rules of Practice in the Office of Trademark Practice. Specifically, you and your employees are believed to have engaged in unauthorized trademark practice before the USPTO, provided false information to the USPTO by entering thousands of third-party signatures in trademark submissions, and provided false, fictitious, or fraudulent information in trademark submissions with the intent to circumvent USPTO rules. ▲ The picture comes from the seller communication group The email also stated the penalties the company would receive for its actions, some of which read: - Permanently prohibit you and your employees from submitting trademark-related documents on your own behalf or on behalf of others;
- Disregard any trademark-related documents submitted by you or your employees;
- Remove communications related to you and your employees from the USPTO database in all applications or registrations;
- Continue to strike files, delete information, and deactivate accounts.
In general, the company violated the USPTO rules, allegedly provided false information during the trademark registration process, and submitted a large number of applications for abnormal trademarks, resulting in a large backlog of trademark reviews by the USPTO. Why was it suddenly sanctioned by the US Trademark Office? The importance of trademarks to Amazon sellers is self-evident, and the collapse of the trademark service provider this time has shocked the entire cross-border circle. The magnitude of its impact, the large number of trademarks involved, and the wide range of issues involved are all jaw-dropping. It is understood that the service provider’s bankruptcy incident also shocked many cross-border sellers, and the discussion about this matter in the circle of friends was also very lively. ▲ The picture comes from the seller communication group As early as June this year, when all kinds of news were overwhelming, some netizens posted screenshots, and employees of the company suspected to be involved responded to the matter: The US Trademark Office did not make any substantive sanctions, but only issued a notice. We will respond to the Trademark Office to explain this issue. However, several months later, the trademark cancellation case that shocked the industry has finally come to an end, and the company's more than 15,000 trademarks will all be revoked, which means that all trademark privileges held by sellers will be invalidated, which will not only make infringements more likely to occur, but will also inevitably affect the operation of their stores. ▲ The picture comes from Zhiwubuyan Why did the company's trademark suddenly explode? The USPTO's announcement pointed out that the respondent violated the USPTO in the following four ways: 1. Unauthorized practice of law 2. Providing false residential addresses 3. Impermissibly entering signatures of others (providing false signatures) 4. Misuse of uspto.gov accounts and TEAS
The following is a list of some of the revoked trademarks in the announcement. Sellers can click the link to check the complete list ↓↓↓ https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/documents/TM-Sanctions-Order-Yusha-Zhang.pdf (copy to browser and open) In addition, many sellers, while enjoying the show, also mentioned the mixed bag of the trademark market. Nowadays, the quality of various service providers on the market varies greatly, and companies often go bankrupt and run away. What experiences can sellers learn from this? Some sellers wrote down their own experience on Weibo: - To register trademarks and patents, you should still look for an established intellectual property company;
- Be careful when choosing between ultra-low-price and ultra-high-price service providers;
- When looking for a service provider, you should not only compare prices, nor just listen to verbal promises.
▲ The picture comes from Weibo Some relevant service providers also stated that sellers should try not to choose ultra-low prices. The normal hard costs of an intellectual property company are around 2,500. There is only one possibility for a price that is too low, which is the theft of a lawyer's qualifications. In addition, sellers can also refer to the following suggestions when looking for cooperative service providers: 1. Find a formally registered and legally operating company. You can log in to the Trademark Office of the State Intellectual Property Office to check whether the agency has relevant registration. 2. Determine that the agency's U.S. trademark registration will be handled by a practicing trademark attorney, who may be required to produce relevant practicing certificates when necessary. In addition to being discerning and screening when looking for trademark service providers, sellers also need to pay attention when choosing software and tools for cooperation. A good tool is like a sharp weapon that can help sellers add icing on the cake. Christmas is coming soon, and sellers who still don’t know what products to sell, strongly recommend you try the following product selection tool. EasyYa Product Selection Mini Program Choose hot items from a different angle
Exclusive Amazon Market Analysis Report Explore the business opportunities behind each keyword Essential product selection tools for cross-border sellers
Market overview - control product market trends and seize the hot-selling frontier
Competitive environment - comprehensive display of core sales data and comparison of similar brand products
Buyer needs - Analyze buyer psychology from multiple dimensions and create "selling points" with "slot points"
High-quality products - Yiya selects innovative products that sell well and have high profits
Free for a limited time, click on the picture below to receive ▼
|
