Received a Fraudulent Patent Infringment Report. MEGA THREAD
Looking through Seller Forums I noticed an alarming amount of Amazon Sellers (including myself) who are affected by those who falsely claim the design rights of a certain product and use that to have their competitors suspended on Amazon.
I am starting this thread with the hope that it will receive a high enough engagement to convince Amazon that measures are necessary to protect genuine sellers from fraudulent patent infringement reports.
My bestseller was suspended following one of these fraudulent patent reports by a competitor's agent. Amazon immediately suspended my product which resulted in a significant loss of revenue. Amazon then demanded that I negotiate with the competitor who made extortionate demands, and hence I decided to pursue the matter legally against the fraudulent design proprietor.
A funny story is that this product is a commonplace Chinese product that has been trading through the Amazon marketplace for over ten years, while the competitor only registered it a few months ago. Amazon made no checks regarding the authenticity of the claim before suspending my product.
If this wasn't enough, I asked Amazon support to extend the return date of the inventory affected, a very simple demand that they refused. Because of this, my business will sustain further damage due to the shipping and short-term storage of this inventory.
This is one of the most fundamental flaws within the FBA model and it has a massive impact on numerous Amazon Sellers.
Received a Fraudulent Patent Infringment Report. MEGA THREAD
Looking through Seller Forums I noticed an alarming amount of Amazon Sellers (including myself) who are affected by those who falsely claim the design rights of a certain product and use that to have their competitors suspended on Amazon.
I am starting this thread with the hope that it will receive a high enough engagement to convince Amazon that measures are necessary to protect genuine sellers from fraudulent patent infringement reports.
My bestseller was suspended following one of these fraudulent patent reports by a competitor's agent. Amazon immediately suspended my product which resulted in a significant loss of revenue. Amazon then demanded that I negotiate with the competitor who made extortionate demands, and hence I decided to pursue the matter legally against the fraudulent design proprietor.
A funny story is that this product is a commonplace Chinese product that has been trading through the Amazon marketplace for over ten years, while the competitor only registered it a few months ago. Amazon made no checks regarding the authenticity of the claim before suspending my product.
If this wasn't enough, I asked Amazon support to extend the return date of the inventory affected, a very simple demand that they refused. Because of this, my business will sustain further damage due to the shipping and short-term storage of this inventory.
This is one of the most fundamental flaws within the FBA model and it has a massive impact on numerous Amazon Sellers.
0 replies
Simon_Amazon
Hello @Seller_540F4A6jRtMhU,
Here Simon from Amazon, happy to help.
Thank you for bringing this topic up on the Forums.
Have you already appealed the decision made on the ASIN?
Best,
Simon
Seller_N4dGOCEIWipZC
Hi, I had the exact same experience. A few weeks ago I've set up an Amazon seller account and started to sell 18650 type li-ion battery cells. I was doing FBM. Everything went super well, in a few weeks I got 47 sales and I've ordered inventory for £3000+ . How funny, just the next day after my last restock order, Amazon took down my listing due to design infringement. I could not believe it when I checked out the details, I thought that I am dreaming !!!!! Someone patented a generic battery design in may 2023, while this battery is on the market in the same shape , form and function since 1994 !!!!!!!!! I can't believe how on earth could have this been patented and also how on earth could Amazon fall for this !. just check it out - it's the design number 6280844 . I'm totally screwed now as invalidating this design despite being very easy, it will take months ! I will certainly sue amazon, I'm preparing a small claims court filing, but most importantly I am contacting all major media houses to share my story. This is UK in 2024 ! a total DEFRAUDED world ! When I genuine honest seller is terrorized by a fraudelent system lead by mega corporations such as Amazon, who is siding immoral fake 'design holders' . This will make an extremely interesting article as this issue is so much bigger than it looks. These fake companies registered thousands of generic designs in the last 2 years, abusing the UK IPO system , and Amazon is so happy to play their game and punish legitimate sellers such as ours. This has to stop and I will do everything I can to stop this and show this to the public !!! Anyone being bullied by Amazon, please contact me [Moderator Edit: personal data removed] so we can sue Amazon together and so we can publish our story together.
