Hi all,
i had my account suspended due to IP Complaints. we have sent POA's over 7 times now but it keeps getting refused. i couldn't find much help on the Amz Seller forums so i thought id try on here.
below is my latest POA:
To Amazon Seller Performance Team,
Thank you for providing me the opportunity to appeal my seller accounts suspension due to Intellectual Property Violations.
I understand that Amazon takes complaints about Intellectual Property Rights of brands or rights owners very seriously and I would like to share with you my plan of action, in which I explain what happened, what I have done to resolve the issue and what I will do to prevent similar complaints in the future.
The root cause (s) that led to the complaints about the trademark infringements of our items:
ASIN: B07TTTKWBZ - performance notification on the 3rd October 2019
Title: Kingston E Liquid Premium Vape Juice Berry Red A Astaire Cherry Chill 0mg No Nicotine 500ml Juggernaut Vape Juice 60vg 40pg Liquid Royal Vapery Band (Chuckleberry)
Please refer to attached document – UK Vapour Warehouse Invoice
ASIN: B07PPJ4TKG - performance notification on the 24th September 2019
Title: Poison E Liquid Premium UK Vape Juice 120ml Shortfill 100ml Ejuice 50vg 50pg Everyday Vape Menthol 0mg No Nicotine E Juice Nicotine Free Poison Eliquid (Vimto)
Please refer to attached document – Rockafella Vape Invoice
I was advised on both occasions that they had been removed from our inventory as they have infringed on trademarks owned by Flavour Warehouse Holdings Ltd.
I take all complaints and issues like this very seriously below I have added the reason why the items above have been removed.
Due to inexperience and lack of knowledge in terms of trademarks and intellectual property rights we did not check if the words used in our listings have been trademarked, and because of the lack of due diligence that was required our account was suspended.
• Failure to comply with Amazon guidelines and policy -
https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/g...anguage=en_GB&
• We failed to liaise with suppliers prior to purchasing items from them to confirm if any of the products could possibly be infringing on someone’s trademarks.
The steps we have taken to resolve the complaints:
• I have introduced a 3rd party application that we have signed up for, that allows me to search the trademark data base in the UK/EU for any names, words or terms that are registered and that can cause future violations, thus the products will not be listed.
Name of software we have implemented:
https://marquesa.net/
• I have carefully reviewed the ASINS and made sure they have been deleted from my inventory, I have also made the decision that the products will not be listed again.
• I have gone through my entire inventory and made sure no other ASINs are infringing on trademarks. I have carefully re-educated myself with Amazon policy on Intellectual property found here:
https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/g...anguage=en_GB&
• Since our ASINS had been removed approximately 24th September, we decided to stop using suppliers that cannot provide official certification that shows they have distribution rights for trademarked products.
• All suppliers we have contacted now have shown they have certification and distribution rights.
Upon reading the ‘Intellectual Property Policy’ several times over we made and error and misunderstood that the sale of such items would fall under the “so-called Exhaustion Principle” - As shown in the screen shot below taken from the Amazon Intellectual property policy page:
Proactive actions taken to prevent future mistakes:
1. Before I list any products on to Amazon, I will verify that the products and listings do not violate anyone’s intellectual property, trademark, copyright or patent by doing search on the Government trademark and patent websites:
https://www.gov.uk/search-for-patent https://www.gov.uk/search-for-trademark
2. I have already started contacting manufactures inquiring who the verified vendors are therefore ensuring that I am buying genuine authentic products from EEA verified suppliers who are as follows:
Vampire Vape UK
Global Way
Darwen
Lancashire
BB3 0RW
Website:
www.VampireVape.co.uk
Email:
wholesale@vampirevape.co.uk
3. I will not list against an ASIN that does not match the exact item description. This will prevent inauthentic complaints, prevent confusion and infringements
4. All listings are described accurately and when the manufacturer makes any change to the product or its packaging the listing is updated to ensure it is clear to the customer to prevent any more complaints of this nature.
5. I will carry out a thorough quality control to ensure all items are 100% compliant with Amazon Policies and guidelines, especially the one regarding intellectual property violations. We have a made a strict checklist that we will be following going forward to make sure all listings are in line with amazon policies such as:
A) Doing a trademark search on the official Government trademark website
https://www.gov.uk/search-for-trademark - to make sure we are 100% sure that the product we list will not be infringing on any trademarks.
B) making sure our suppliers are authorised distributors of the product before purchasing, this will done by obtaining license/certification or agreements between suppliers and manufactures if they cannot provide this information the supplier will not be used and the product will not be listed.
C) The products we sell are highly regulated so we are well versed of the policies amazon have in place and need we actively check them for updates and changes. Example of such policies can be found here:
https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/g...language=en_GB – Tobacco, E-cigarette and Related Products
https://sellercentral.amazon.co.uk/g...cont_201744070 – Listing guidelines for E-cigarette and related products
6. I will ensure that any policy notifications are dealt with as soon as they are received, to prevent any issues from escalating further.
7. I will continue to manage my seller account and inventory in accordance to amazon guidelines and policies by regularly checking for any changes or updates.
I have implemented all the above steps to resolve the issues and prevent further complaints of this nature. I have also done a thorough review of our inventory to ensure all products are listed and described accurately to ensure I am not infringing on any trademarks. This will result in products being correctly listed on Amazon platform which will lead to no infringement complaints.
I take full responsibility for my listings being removed and I would be grateful if you would give me the opportunity to be able to sell on your platform again.
NB: Please check the attachments of this email for other supporting documents.
Kind Regards
Naeem
can someone review my Plan of action.... 
