my listing has been removed by a compeitor with a fake Patent, Please Help!
Hi Everyone & Amazon moderators,
Please can someone help me?
My new listing with a high amount of stock which is about to be delivered to amazon has been removed.
A competitor has starting registering Design IPs with the UKIPO office that do not belong to him.
These items have been for sale on amazon and elsewhere for the last 5 years.
He has then submitted a complaint to amazon and they have removed my listing for IP infringment.
This is clearly seller abuse and someone who is Misusing Amazon's Notice and Takedown Process.
Has anyone gone through the sama issue with an invalid IP of a design being used to take down there lisitng?
i have substantial evidence of more than 10 asins with the same design, which have been selling since 2020. They are also still for sale today.
How this persons managed to obtain an IP for some basic design which has been available everywhere baffles me.
He also done this with 7 other designs that clearly do not belong to him in the last 6 months.
I have done some research on the matter and his IP can easily be made invalid easaily but will take time which i cant afford at the moment with my stock being stuck at amazon.
Is there anyway of expediting this process to get my listing reinstated? As seller support havnt been so helpful and im still waiitng for a response from the account health team.
13 replies
Seller_d8YGbIjNqwFxn
This happens fairly frequently on Amazon. A seller will register a design for a product that has been in circulation for many years so they can remove the competition.
The fault really lies with the IPO who allows for these type of products to be registered. Amazon then just enforce it as the IPO says the design is registered.
You will have to apply to the IPO to get the design registration invalidated. Once the design registration is invalidated then you can appeal to Amazon stating the design registration is no longer valid. This process is not quick though.
Seller_Tx4Km01GPPwlw
@Seller_d8YGbIjNqwFxnthank you, i have already started the process for this as it can apparently take 6 to 18 months to be processed. I was just wondering in the meantime of there was anything else i could do.
This seller is clearly abusing the system and being allowed to get away with it by amazon, even though it goes directly against all of the policies and guidelines.
My main issue is the stock being delivered to amazon FBA warehouse and not being able to sell it and then paying for high storage costs, it will also cost me in excess of £5000 to have the stock removed.
Thank you for your response much appreciated.
Seller_d8YGbIjNqwFxn
Other than contacting the complainant and asking them to remove the complaint I don't think there is much else you can do.
In these situations Amazon tend to side with the person who has the design registration. Only invalidation can change their decision.
What I know has worked in the past is if you can prove the design on the IPO is in someway different to the design you have. There would have to be some form of difference which you could point out to Amazon to get them to overturn the complaint.
Seller_Tx4Km01GPPwlw
Thank you @Seller_d8YGbIjNqwFxnare there any threads which show this has been successful? My product is actually quite different and not exactly the same. So maybe I will give this a go with like for like picture to show amazon its not the same product.
Seller_d8YGbIjNqwFxn
The only example I got is from a long thread that I was involved in about 2 years ago
The thread is
https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/seller-forums/discussions/t/4788e512f9c2187eaca63f08caa294de
There is a lot in this thread but the piece of advice which I gave (under my old forum name) which worked and got a design right overturned was to submit an appeal as follows
My listing has been incorrectly deactivated due to Patent Infringement. The seller does not have a patent for [product type] but only a Registered Design which is different to the design that I am selling. The photo of their registered design is attached (See Image ) and my product photo is attached (see Image ) and it can be clearly seen the designs are different.
I have also had a violation for photos on the same listing. Find attached proof (See Invoice aaa and digital contact sheet bbb) from my photographer [Add Name Of Photographer/Company] to show that I have the right of use of these photos.
My listing does not violate the intellectual rights of [Name of Complainant] and I therefore ask that you reinstate the listing
I would also attach invoices you have for the product if you have any.
The bit in italics about the photograph isn't relevant to you they were also accused of using someone's copyrighted photos.
You obviously need to change the wording to suit your listing.
No guarantees this will work but it shows they can be overturned if you can prove you have a different design
Seller_Tx4Km01GPPwlw
@Seller_d8YGbIjNqwFxnthats super helpful thank you. Did you raise this via seller support or do this directly on the appeal on the health page. The issue i face is being able to send the relevant information to the correct department without being messed around by seller support. Also to appeal on the account health page it only give you the option to send
1. A Letter of Authorisation (LOA)/Licensing Agreement (LA) from the Rights Owner authorising you to sell the product.
2. Invoice for the products sold under this ASIN
3. Order ID from Amazon.
4. Legal documents (court order, temporary restraining order, injunction, an opinion of non-infringement).
I will have a good read through the thread thank you so much.
Seller_d8YGbIjNqwFxn
It was another seller I was helping so I believe they just appealed via the Amazon Account Health page so I can't be sure what option they used. It was also a couple of years ago so it may well have worked differently then.
Seller_Tx4Km01GPPwlw
Noted i will let you know how i get on with this. Thank you once again.
Seller_Tx4Km01GPPwlw
Unfortunately this didnt work they are still ignoring me and sending me the same generic response.
Julia_Amzn
Hi @Seller_Tx4Km01GPPwlw,
Apologies for the delayed response.
Would you mind sharing a case ID with the notice of infringement or impacted ASIN numbers?
Thank you,
Julia.
Seller_nRhZxElkqUPAM
This happened to us before. They guy registered the IP to some random persons address in Birmingham. The fault is with the IPO for doing a lazy registration job. We got lucky as I managed to find this guy via some research and the matter was resolved quickly.
Julia_Amzn
Hello @Seller_Tx4Km01GPPwlw, I responded to your question in the previous thread: My New Listing has been removed for a Patent Infringement, But the person who made the claim only has a Design Right not a patent. PLEASE HELP!!!
I will close this one as a duplicate.
Cheers,
Julia.
