Remove from shelves immediately! Trademark infringement outbreak! Be careful of funds being frozen

Recently, we received an infringement consultation from a client. After some investigation, we found out that the client used a trademark of a world-renowned automobile brand. As expected, Volkswagen Group recently launched a new infringement case.

The owner of the Volkswagen brand is VOLKSWAGEN GROUP OF AMERICA, INC. In recent years, the brand has been involved in numerous lawsuits, including several cases from 2019 to 2020. The red circle is the latest lawsuit filed on May 27 this year, with case number 20-cv-3128.

The reason for Volkswagen Group's lawsuit this time is trademark infringement. The cited trademarks are its Audi-related trademarks, including word trademarks and multiple graphic trademarks.

The specific infringing trademarks are:

In fact, it is allowed to sell branded auto parts on the platform, as long as you add words such as compatible with and for to the title. However, many sellers have still been complained or sued. The main reason is that the product itself carries brand-related text trademarks or graphic trademark elements.

It is also important to note that the brand's trademark registration categories are also very broad. It can be said that no category that can be applied for is left out. Therefore, even if the trademark is not used on auto parts products, using it on other products constitutes infringement.

Let’s take a look at some common infringing products on the platform:  

Many sellers thought that as long as they worked hard on the titles of auto parts products and added some words indicating "applicable and compatible", they could avoid infringement. In the end, they were often sued because the products themselves used infringing trademarks.

Therefore, in addition to the title description, sellers should also pay more attention to the product itself and whether there is any infringement on the product packaging. If the product itself has infringed, regardless of whether the title uses the other party’s trademark, it undoubtedly constitutes trademark infringement.

The freezing of this case has already begun. The agency is GBC Law Firm, which is very good at fishing for evidence. Therefore, sellers who encounter freezing must deal with it in a timely manner to minimize losses as much as possible.