We often hear stories of people receiving a counterfeit product from an Amazon order. Maybe you have been part of such a tale, or you are the seller who delivered that product.
Building a brand on Amazon with excellent reviews is hard enough. But if you get involved in an infringement case, that may damage your reputation beyond repair.
The sad truth is that most Amazon sellers hardly know the applicability, nuances, and working of Intellectual Property Law and patent infringement.
And this is why you can see Amazon seller central forums filled with questions such as “What action can I take when I get reported for patent infringement on Amazon?”
It is the worst nightmare for any Amazon seller, getting their precious listings removed owing to Amazon patent infringement disputes.
Suppose you are an Amazon seller and receive an Amazon patent infringement notification. In that case, your product listing will be blocked, or your entire account could get suspended, making you lose your selling privileges.
You must comply with all federal and state laws and Amazon policies applicable to your products and product listings.
If you infringe on someone else’s patent on Amazon, you may encounter the following:
* Legal consequences from the patent owner
* Costly court and attorney fees
* Losing your profitable Amazon listings and suspension of the account.
In recent times, Amazon has been vigilant in sending patent infringement notifications and is closely checking patent rights for products listed on its platform, encouraging the community to report any infringement.
Amazon realizes that customers prefer patented products as they perceive them as high quality and reliable. Hence, patent owners have been given power through Amazon’s Neutral Patent Evaluation Program to shut down any patent infringers permanently.
This program limits each side party to 20 pages of legal arguments, ultimately resolving a patent infringement dispute in under two months.
Amazon will furnish a Neutral Patent Evaluation Agreement which the seller has to accept within 21 days, mandatorily. Failure to do so results in permanent suspension of infringing listings.
At this juncture, even if the accusation of infringement is on any factual evidence, the seller will still need to complete a long and exhausting follow-up drill, typically involving replying to the notification, requesting a withdrawal, or appealing with proper legal documentation.
A preventive approach is the best resort. Instead of spending your valuable time, effort, and money sorting out the complicated aftermath, the much more prudent way, as an Amazon seller, is to ensure that you don’t introduce any listings that can likely cause any infringement.
All Amazon Sellers should know the basics of Patent Search. Even if you don’t want to patent your product, you’ll still want to ensure that whatever item you sell is not somebody else’s patent.
You can perform a basic search on databases like USPTO, JPO, EUIPO, and CNIPA, ensuring a thorough examination of different marketplaces. Please read my other article on Google Patent Searching here on Medium.
With this in mind, for sellers on Amazon, the first pit stop should always be to do an intensive and extensive patent search before listing their products.
By preparing yourself in advance, you can mitigate or even steer clear of risks concerning Amazon’s suspension and potential legalese.