Resolve IP Complaints on Amazon – Licensing & Sell-Through Agreements for Infringing Products Sold on Amazon
Hello, Amazon sellers. My name is Anthony Zhang, and I’m a paralegal here at Rosenbaum Famularo & Segall. Today I want to talk to you about intellectual property infringement and some of the ways we resolve intellectual property complaints.
Have you received an IP complaint on your Amazon account and you know that your products are actually infringing?
In that case, it doesn’t mean that you can’t sell the product anymore. We have a couple of ways to resolve such infringements with the rights owner.
One of the first ways we resolve these types of infringements is through a sell-through agreement.
What that means is you’ll be giving up a part of your profit to the rights owner in order to sell the rest of your inventory. By the time you finish selling your inventory, you agree to stop selling the product altogether. This allows you to get rid of your inventory, usually not at a loss. So lots of sellers are happy to resolve this issue by getting rid of their inventory.
A second way that we resolve infringements on Amazon.com is using a licensing agreement.
We contact the rights owner and attempt to establish a licensing agreement that is based on things such as a royalty payment, and also maybe a designated source of supply for your products. Those things are worked out during the negotiation process where you could obtain permission and authorization to continue to sell your products. By having this licensing agreement, your products are no longer infringing.
Usually for trademarks, these types of agreements will not work because trademarks are used to identify the origin of products and if your products do not come from the actual brand, there’s no way to authorize the sale of these products.
Even if you receive infringement complaints on Amazon and you know your products are infringing, do not be afraid. There’s many ways we could resolve IP complaints on Amazon. Here at Rosenbaum, Famularo & Segall, P.C. we’re experienced in resolving various kinds of intellectual property complaints on Amazon. Feel free to give us a call if you have these types of issues.