Amazon Seller Policy News: New Strategies for Fighting Patent Complaints
Patent violations are one of the strictest areas of enforcement from Amazon. Because Amazon can potentially be held liable for intellectual property violations that occur on their platform, they are strict about both the degree of evidence required to suspend a product and the amount of evidence required to reinstate a seller’s account. In this blog, we walk you through how our team at Amazon Seller’s Lawyer is developing new strategies for restoring seller accounts suspended for patent infringement complaints.
Amazon Patent Infringement Complaints
Patent Infringement is part of Intellectual Property Law, where brand owners secure protections for their works. While Copyright protects original creative expression, Trademark protection relates to textual aspects of a product, like its name or the words on a product. In contrast, Patent protection grants protection for a method of doing something or a machine that does something. It may also protect the design of the machine.
There are two major types of patents that relate to product protection: design patents and utility patents. Both functions as they sound, with design patents protecting literal design elements of a given product while utility patents protect the function.
When you receive notification of a patent infringement case on your Amazon seller account, you will likely be suspended in addition to the suspension of the allegedly infringing product. This means you will be prevented from selling anything else on the platform until you work to reinstate your account. This is done through the creation of an Amazon Plan of Action (POA) appeal submitted through your Seller Central dashboard.
Reinstating Sellers With the Doctrine of Equivalents
Recently, Amazon Sellers Lawyer trial attorney Brian Malkin identified a key new strategy for sellers that redefines how cases can be won in favor of our clients. The Doctrine of Equivalents is a key concept for patent infringement that extends the protections of IP law. Instead of only being able to pursue litigation against products that directly infringe on the patents design and function, the Doctrine of Equivalents extends this to any product that includes a protected feature that is functionally equivalent to the feature in the protected design. This covers brand owners from people who could otherwise change small details in a product’s design to get around patent protections.
What does this mean for independent sellers faced with a patent infringement report? This means that where the features of the material used in a component of the product are functionally different from the features of the material required by the patent, an effective argument can be made that patent infringement is not occurring.
Brian recently used this, in conjunction with testimony of a product’s manufacturer, to argue that the client’s product included components that lacked the required features to provide the function necessary to infringe on the patent claims.
Contact Amazon Sellers Lawyer Today!
If you have been alerted to any Intellectual Property violations related to your Amazon seller account, it is important to act before risking the potential of escalated action. The team at Amazon Sellers Lawyer has been pioneering strategies in helping sellers for over a decade. Recent developments by team members like Brian show our deep knowledge of the law and how it helps our clients get the best results possible. Give us a call today at 212-256-1109 or fill out our online form here.
About the Author
CJ Rosenbaum, Esq.
CJ Rosenbaum is the founding partner of Amazon Sellers Lawyer. He’s been practicing law since 1995, and since 2016 his firm has focused exclusively on helping Amazon sellers deal with issues like suspensions, intellectual property disputes, and withheld funds.
CJ has written six books on Amazon seller legal issues including the Amazon Sellers’ Guide to Copyright Law. He has spoken at major industry events like the Prosper Show, Global Sources Summit, Retail Global. CJ also works with the Amazon Sellers Lawyer team to provide free content for Amazon sellers. This is available through their online blog and YouTube channel, frequently covering major Amazon updates and important topics relevant to the seller space.
Through BrandProtectionAmazon.com, the firm also supports brands in protecting their products. This gives the team the unique opportunity to learn from case wins on both sides of the fence, strengthening protection for both the sellers and brands that Rosenbaum & Segall P.C. represents.
Amazon repeatedly rejecting your Plan of Action? Amazon Sellers Lawyer handles suspension appeals and account reinstatement cases – including arbitration against Amazon when they’re withholding seller money. Contact us to discuss your situation and figure out the best path forward.