1、 Intellectual Property Rules for the Five Major E-commerce Platforms

In order to ensure that products do not violate or infringe upon the intellectual property rights of rights holders, the Amazon platform has listed its intellectual property policies and penalties for infringement on its official website.

The intellectual property policy introduction in Amazon Seller Center includes eight sections: copyright, trademark, patent, design patent, parallel imported goods, utility model patent, design patent, etc.

2. AliExpress

The AliExpress platform strictly prohibits users from publishing or selling products suspected of infringing third-party intellectual property rights without authorization. If a seller publishes or sells products suspected of infringing third-party intellectual property rights, they may be complained by the intellectual property owner or buyer. The platform will also randomly check the information of the products (including those that have been taken down). If there is suspected infringement, the published information will be returned or deleted, and penalties will be imposed according to the type of infringement.

3 eBay

EBay focuses on protecting third-party intellectual property rights. Illegal use of others' intellectual property is illegal and violates eBay policies. The eBay platform has established strict intellectual property rules and strictly prohibits unauthorized sales of goods on the platform.

For intellectual property owners, eBay has specifically established the VeRO (Verified eBay Rights Owner) project to protect the rights and interests of intellectual property owners and maintain platform order. The VeRO project allows intellectual property (IP) owners and their authorized representatives to report to eBay the online listing of goods on the eBay website that may infringe upon their rights.

4 Wish

Wish is a non self operated e-commerce platform where businesses and manufacturers (merchants) can directly sell goods to consumers. The Wish platform does not actively participate in the listing, sale, or delivery of products provided by its merchants.

Wish has established strict policies regarding counterfeit goods and intellectual property infringement, and provides multiple channels for third parties to notify Wish in case of suspected infringement of their intellectual property. Wish also reserves the right to block or remove materials that it confirms violate third-party rights, and has the right to remove merchants who have repeatedly violated these rights or cease providing services to them.

At the same time, Wish has also created a brand partner program to enable brand owners to accelerate the efficiency of handling platform intellectual property infringement complaints.

5 Newegg

Newegg focuses on intellectual property protection, and the platform implements strict control and punishment for intellectual property infringement. The Newegg platform imposes restrictions on content that may cause intellectual property infringement, such as referencing other stores/distributors, comparing with competing brands, competing brand products, referencing/adjusting/modifying original product documents, etc. Once infringement is discovered, Newegg can delete or refuse to publish the above content at any time.

Meanwhile, Newegg prohibits the publication of content that infringes upon the rights of others, including but not limited to patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, trade dress, privacy rights, or any other proprietary rights.

2、 General measures for responding to complaints from e-commerce platforms

1. Infringement Confirmation

01. Determine whether one has infringed upon their rights

When e-commerce companies encounter product delisting or account suspension, they first need to determine and investigate the reasons, and analyze whether there is a possibility of infringement.

On the one hand, internal self-examination confirms whether infringement is established, including: (1) whether unauthorized use of other people's trademarks, names, company names or logos, website links, promotional images, and text; (2) Whether to imitate or sell other people's goods without permission; (4) Whether the product supplier has infringed, therefore this account has been affected; (5) Is it associated with other e-commerce accounts, or is the account borrowed for use by others. The above are all factors that may trigger intellectual property infringement.

On the other hand, consult the customer service of the e-commerce platform to confirm the cause of infringement.

02. Verify the validity of the complainant's intellectual property rights

According to notification emails from e-commerce platforms, customer service or complaint responses, e-commerce companies can obtain information on suspected infringement of patents, trademarks, copyrights, etc. They can independently or entrust intellectual property service agencies to search on relevant intellectual property official websites to confirm the validity of their rights, the scope of protection, and whether there is a possibility of infringement on our side.

03. Investigation Conclusion

After investigation, e-commerce companies should have a rough judgment on whether they have infringed. Develop a response plan based on the infringement situation, store operation expectations, account amount, and inventory quantity.

2. Response plan

Appeal, settlement or response to litigation, and which way to choose to respond, this manual provides the following general suggestions for power supply companies to refer to by researching the opinions of e-commerce companies, lawyers, and settlement institutions.

01. Infringement

If it is confirmed that the infringement facts are basically established, it is recommended that e-commerce companies handle it according to the notification emails or system prompts of various e-commerce platforms. There are roughly the following ways to handle it.

① Rectify according to platform rules

Infringement behavior is discovered by e-commerce platforms, and rectification and submission of materials are required according to the platform's notification email or system prompts. The key points of communication or rectification with platform customer service generally include analysis of infringement causes, attitude and results of handling, remedial measures, store performance, and future sales plans.

② Resolve with the complainant

E-commerce companies can determine specific settlement methods based on factors such as infringement circumstances, quantity and sales volume of goods, account amount, store value, etc., whether to entrust professional law firms, settlement institutions, or negotiate solutions on their own. Generally speaking, for large sellers with a large number of account amounts, serious infringement nature, high store value, or serious infringement nature, it is recommended to entrust a professional law firm to actively prepare materials under the guidance of a lawyer, in order to reduce the compensation amount and shorten the settlement time.

For small and medium-sized sellers, the sales revenue and account amount of suspected infringing products may be relatively small. They can entrust a settlement agency to negotiate, and actively prepare sales certificates and other materials to negotiate compensation amounts.

For sellers with low store value, they can also try to communicate and contact themselves, but it should be noted that the complainant's lawyer may not be willing to reply to emails and there may be risks associated with self communication.

③ Invalidation of patent/trademark filed against the rights holder

For large sellers, if professional lawyers can search and analyze and find evidence to invalidate the other party's patent or trademark rights, they can file an invalidation request with the plaintiff's local patent and trademark office, court, or International Trade Commission. In addition, by filing a lawsuit with the court, there is an opportunity to apply for a court order to relist the goods before the final judgment.

02. Non infringement

If the infringement facts are not established or the possibility of infringement is very low, e-commerce companies can resolve the issue through appeals, settlements, or lawsuits to e-commerce platforms.

① Appeal through the platform

Preparation of appeal content

Prepare non infringement proof materials and statements of non infringement content based on the notification email sent by the e-commerce platform.

1) Non infringement proof materials, such as proof of one's own patents, trademarks, and copyrights, or proof of authorization and licensing contracts.

2) Non infringement statement, regarding the reasons for infringement and related intellectual property types provided in the complaint email, stating that one's own product differs from the complainant's patent, trademark, or copyright and does not infringe on the other party's intellectual property. If the seller has entrusted a lawyer to conduct infringement warning analysis on the goods, it can be used as one of the supporting documents.

3) Organize and write appeal emails carefully, with clear and targeted viewpoints, concise language expression, and corresponding viewpoints and supporting materials.

Appeal channels

According to the guidelines of each platform, appeal through the corresponding website or link.

② Resolve with the complainant

Even if it does not infringe, sellers can choose to settle based on their own economic conditions and the urgency of account unfreezing. Relatively speaking, settlement is a fast and low-cost way to lift the ban. Of course, the reconciliation process also requires attention to factors such as evidence, negotiation skills, and consideration of compensation for losses.

③ Responding to the lawsuit

If the complainant (rights holder) entrusts the law firm to directly file a lawsuit with the local court, apply to the court for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and/or other injunction, immediately restricting the transaction behavior and payment processing of the suspected infringing merchant on the platform. In this case, it is necessary to hire lawyers with practicing qualifications from the jurisdiction of the court, actively respond to the lawsuit, and try to apply to the court to reject the plaintiff's request to freeze accounts and funds as much as possible. Of course, the cost of responding to the lawsuit needs to be considered by e-commerce companies.

④ Invalidation of the complainant's patent/trademark

3. Dealing with adverse consequences

01. Not responding to warning emails or notifications

If the seller ignores the warning of suspected intellectual property infringement, in addition to the continued removal of the product, it may result in account suspension.

02. Failure to respond to court notification emails

Some sellers do not attach enough importance to the court notification emails sent by e-commerce platforms and do not respond, resulting in the complainant applying for a court default judgment. As far as the United States is concerned, the fine for a default judgment is generally between $10 to $2 million. After the default judgment, the seller's account funds are directly used to compensate the plaintiff. Some courts consider the defendant's failure to respond to court orders as evidence of intentional infringement, which may result in higher damages.

Source: Shenzhen Cross border E-commerce Intellectual Property Rights Protection Guidelines