Amazon suspension due to design infringement, copyright violation or trademark infringement? IP Lawyer helps!

For several years, our specialized German Intellectual Property Law Firm and Patent Attorney’s Office has been supporting IP right holders from a wide variety of businesses when they want to take action against Amazon merchants (sellers on the marketplace) and want to block an offer or an ASIN on Amazon (“ASIN suspension”). We would also be happy to help you enforce your IP rights and take action against infringers.

Such an action, respectively a blocking of an ASIN or an offer on Amazon can e.g. be based on the following IP rights:

Copyright law

Action against copyright infringement in the case of copies of photos, drawings, product illustrations or advertising texts / product descriptions

 

Design law

Proceedings against design infringement / design patent violation in case of copying registered designs or unregistered Community designs

 

Trademark law

Proceedings against trademark infringement (violation of trademark rights) in case of unauthorized use of protected names, logos, word marks, word and device marks, figurative marks, etc.

 

Patent law & utility model law

Proceeding against patent violation or utility model infringement in case of adoption of protected technical inventions

Advertising law / unfair competition law

Proceeding based on infringement of unfair competition law due to false or misleading advertising or incorrect information in the offer, errors in product labeling (e.g. Product Safety Act – ProdSG), false labels or seals (e.g. CE label, Oeko-Tex Standard 100, organic, TÜV certificate), purchased or false ratings, etc.

Possible first step before an ASIN blocking:

Before reporting a legal violation to Amazon so that an ASIN or an offer is blocked, it should first be checked by a specialist – e.g. Patent Attorney or IP Lawyer (specialist attorney for industrial property rights) – whether there is an infringement of copyright law, design patent law, trademark law, patent law or utility model law etc. at all.

Possible risks of an ASIN suspension / product blocking on Amazon:

If it turns out that a blocking wasn’t justified, because the reported infringement does not exist at all, this can have various negative consequences. Possible risks of a product suspension or ASIN blocking on Amazon are, for example, the following:

  • Problems with Amazon: An incorrect suspension can lead to negative consequences for the own Amazon account
  • Attacks against intellectual property rights: A classic defense of blocked marketplace sellers is the attack on the respective industrial property right, e.g. cancellation proceeding against a German design or community design or trademark or nullity proceedings against patent or utility model
  • Possible counterclaims such as claims for damages: In addition, an erroneous blocking, which is e.g. based on invalid IP rights, can also trigger counterclaims such as claims for damages, etc.

Feel free to contact our IP Law Firm and Patent Attorney’s Office with German Lawyer (Certified IP Lawyer) as well as Patent Attorney (German Patent Lawyer, European Patent, Trademark and Design Attorney) with years of experience in dealing with problems on the platform Amazon (including the fields of copyright law, design law / design patent law, trademark law, patent law, utility model law, competition law, etc.) if you need help or further information on legal issues on the Amazon marketplace.