Someone please stop these bad guys!
I have been selling products on Amazon for years. Suddenly someone complained about my picture infringement. I looked at the complainant's web site and the pictures in it were exactly the same as mine, I took all these pictures, he just copied the pictures to other sites and then complained about me on Amazon! And I have the original pictures, the complaint will take 10 days at the earliest, so I have to re-promote the products I've been selling for years, which will waste a lot of my resources, and what should I do if they report me again and take my products off the shelves? This is a malicious complaint! Can someone please help me?
Someone please stop these bad guys!
I have been selling products on Amazon for years. Suddenly someone complained about my picture infringement. I looked at the complainant's web site and the pictures in it were exactly the same as mine, I took all these pictures, he just copied the pictures to other sites and then complained about me on Amazon! And I have the original pictures, the complaint will take 10 days at the earliest, so I have to re-promote the products I've been selling for years, which will waste a lot of my resources, and what should I do if they report me again and take my products off the shelves? This is a malicious complaint! Can someone please help me?
23 replies
Seller_I4WGbhj4rGCrx
@Atlas_Amazon
@Jurgen_Amazon
@Ricardo_Amazon
@Sunnie_Amazon
@Joey_Amazon
@KJ_Amazon
@Dominic_Amazon
@Emet_Amazon
@TaylorR_Amazon
@CR_Amazon
@LeviDylan_Amazon
@Nikki_Amazon
@Connor_Amazon
Seller_pixSY1g97J4aL
Did you include metadata with copyright in your images? You should always include your copyright in photographic images meta data to protect your rights.
This metadata will protect you from copyright infringement.
Seller_I4WGbhj4rGCrx
@Atlas_Amazon
@Jurgen_Amazon
@Ricardo_Amazon
@Sunnie_Amazon
@Joey_Amazon
@KJ_Amazon
@Dominic_Amazon
@Emet_Amazon
@TaylorR_Amazon
@CR_Amazon
@LeviDylan_Amazon
@Nikki_Amazon
@Connor_Amazon
@Roxy_Amazon @Josh_Amazon @SEAmod @Manny_Amazon @CR_Amazon @Jameson_Amazon @Josh_Amazon
Emet_Amazon
Hello @Seller_I4WGbhj4rGCrx,
Thank you for posting your concerns with infringement.
The question I have since you do not reference the infringement type, is this a copyright complaint or a trademark logo complaint? If this is a copyright violation, the only path to dispute is show proof that you are the copyright holder for these images, or complete the DMCA counter notice process. We cannot reverse these as they have to follow a specific legal process. If you are experiencing a copyright complaint and have filed a counter notice, these take a set period of time which allows for the DMCA to be received, passed to the complainant, we wait for a response, and if no communication is received within 10 days, it can at that time be removed from your account. Please note that this process can take additional time for processing as mentioned above.
Additionally if this was related to a trademark, you would need to show proof of registration and that you are the owner of this intellectual property. These requirements can be confirmed on our intellectual property policy for sellers help page.
We in this space have very limited visibility into your account so we can only provide guidance on what is offered here. Please post the original infringement warning notification, this will provide me with enough information to provide more direct guidance on the situation.
The forums community and I are here to support you. Please let us know how we can help you from this point forward.
Emet.
Seller_o9DbpA2WbvcJV
If you believe the takedown notice is in error, you can send a counter-notification to the party who sent the notice.
then they have about 2 weeks to file a lawsuit for the alleged infringement after your counter notice
Seller_y7K2usRrDUAe8
Is your product logo trademarked (i.e. registered with USPTO), and secondly, is your logo visible on the product picture?
The reason I am asking is that if your logo is trademarked and visible on the product, you can actually straight counter-sue this person for trademark violation, which is a worse violation than copyright complaints, and it's almost guaranteed to win for you.
If the logo is not visible but you took the product picture, you can only counter notice through DMCA. The reason why I said this is because - judging by how you received the complaint, it's a malicious DMCA notice that went straight from DMCA to Amazon, which Amazon (legally obligated) has to answer by taking your listing down. Now, these bad actors will 99.99% be asking for a ransom and to a certain extent asking you to stop selling the said product, and as soon they do so, that's your winning ticket. Screenshot that, share the metadata of the picture, and counter-notice them through DMCA and you will win.
And for your information, Amazon has finally (a little too late, but w/e) decided to go after these DMCA abusers. Oftentimes, these DMCA abusers are your competitors. Below is a copy/paste of the details:
On March 30, Amazon filed three lawsuits alleging that a collection of defendant merchants used Amazon’s Brand Registry service (which helps third-party sellers detect and shut down counterfeiters and other trademark and copyright infringers) to issue numerous bogus Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) takedown requests targeting competitors’ product listings similar to their own, with one defendant going so far as to create “dummy” websites featuring clandestinely copied product photos that were then used to support supporting the takedown requests (i.e., the defendants claimed their copied versions of the photos were the originals, and that the photos in the original product listings were infringing copies). The defendants allegedly misused Amazon’s portal for reporting copyright and trademark infringement as a tool to suppress legitimate competition. In addition to injunctive relief, Amazon seeks yet-indeterminate monetary damages, including special damages – an apparent effort to make an example out of the defendants and signal that Amazon will go well beyond simply kicking bad actors out of its marketplace for this type of behavior.
Seller_qMgi7qxvEo7f1
Nice. Could be worse. Sometimes they just changing the brand on your own listing and report you for copyright/trademark violation. Right after that, they change the whole listing, the photos, the details, the title. Usually Chinese companies. Then Amazon just won't help you or it takes you days telling them about the hijacking, the false reporting, the brand, etc. It's pretty much mental torture...
Seller_dkvNFPkFjSVLg
Again, as posted above, send this person a cease and desist letter.
Do not send them money.
Spend the ~$150 and have an attorney draft it for you - as that will carry far more weight!
I have handled these for all my companies for years and people can be real shady, but you are right and the law does protect you.
Seller_I4WGbhj4rGCrx
He uploaded my product pictures and information on Mercado, how can I report him I can't find the complaint portal on Mercado platform.
