Received email from brand "owner"

[mrowcp]

Yesterday I have received a message via amazon from a guy who pretended to be a represent of the brand.Item is a small box/case made in china and it's not a big world brand. If you search in alibaba, you'll find dozen of manufacturers who made this kind of case.

Here is the e-mail:

Hello myshop,
We have noticed that you are not authorized to sell this BRAND NAME and you have listed this particular item (ASIN: B0123123) which is sold exclusive by the brand authorized sellers. Please refer to our attachemnt.
Please send the confirmation to us after you remove the product as issued from your listing.

If you do not comply with these demands, we will have no notice byt to claim with amazon.com seller performance department, which will seriously impact your Amazon selling privileges.

Please nadle and reply as soon as possible, otherwise we will complaints and amazon.

BRAND

I've reply with a request for documents that showing ownership of the brand and if docs are approved by real brand owner (via email confirmation) I will remove my items for this ASIN. The answer from the guy was:

OK, I will report to Amazon as i told you.

My questions are:
1) Are all brands under monitoring (even a small one) in amazon?
2) Is my account endangered if it turns out that this guy is really the representative of the brand. Will amazon remove only this item or it will have global consequences?

P.S. Until this day I was the only seller offer this item. Now there is a new seller from China, offering it too on lower price (of course).

[e2free]

If they registered the trademark yes they can report to AZ and they will remove you

Don't take this likely you will loose your account

[ebaystealth1974]

But if it's a generic item, how can there be a brand?

[mrowcp]

Than the biggest question here is: how to be sure that this is not a scam? Everyone can contact me via amazon and write this kind of message.
What you will do if you receive this message tomorrow?

P.S. It's a small brand that do not require aprovement (to submit invoices to amazon) before you start selling it.

[e2free]

well search for the trademark of that brand, specially the country you listed on, does not make any difference if its well known brand or small brand if he got trademark this can be removed within minutes from AZ

[GhostOfAmazon]

If you really want to be a dick to the guy, if you find out it's NOT registered trademark, file for your OWN trademark, and once approved, email Amazon and have HIS account restricted!

Probably not worth the hassle or investment, but I'm someone who HATES scammers, so sometimes I go the extra mile.

[ebaystealth1974]

Originally Posted by GhostOfAmazon

Probably not worth the hassle or investment, but I'm someone who HATES scammers, so sometimes I go the extra mile.

Yessssss!!!

[mrowcp]

Originally Posted by GhostOfAmazon

If you really want to be a dick to the guy, if you find out it's NOT registered trademark, file for your OWN trademark, and once approved, email Amazon and have HIS account restricted!

Probably not worth the hassle or investment, but I'm someone who HATES scammers, so sometimes I go the extra mile.

I already checked and the brand is not registered for UK/EU. I also considered this move, but this spiritual orgasm will cost me extra 440 GBP for UK and 1400GBP for EU and UK

[GhostOfAmazon]

Whew! That's a load of cash.

Then again, it's a tax right off---and depending on how much profit you make on it, it COULD be worthwhile----keep in mind, you also destroy ANY competitors on this ASIN.

[e2free]

UK TM cost £170 and eu I believe 900

[dachilla]

It's pretty easy for a brand owner to check weather there is someone else offering their items on AMZ. You can see it in Sellercentral if you created the asin who else is selling your stuff and for what price.

Even without a trademark registration the brand owner has the intellectual property of his brand (copyright) and you can't just copy it. Also if you become creative and think you'll just register his brand, he can fight your registration and will most likely be able to prove that he has been using the brand way longer than you. Then the money was spent for nothing. If you also register the Logo artwork of the brand you'll be in even more trouble.

They contact you via amazon because there is no other option to do so, if your email isn't shown in the imprint.

Try finding something unbranded. Especially small brand owners hate it when you sell their stuff for low.

Cheers

[ebaystealth1974]

Originally Posted by dachilla

Try finding something unbranded. Especially small brand owners hate it when you sell their stuff for low.

Cheers

Rightfully so!

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by dachilla

Even without a trademark registration the brand owner has the intellectual property of his brand (copyright) and you can't just copy it. Also if you become creative and think you'll just register his brand, he can fight your registration and will most likely be able to prove that he has been using the brand way longer than you. Then the money was spent for nothing. If you also register the Logo artwork of the brand you'll be in even more trouble.

Not sure that's how it works.....

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/diffe...mark-3218.html

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by dachilla

Even without a trademark registration the brand owner has the intellectual property of his brand (copyright) and you can't just copy it. Also if you become creative and think you'll just register his brand, he can fight your registration and will most likely be able to prove that he has been using the brand way longer than you. Then the money was spent for nothing. If you also register the Logo artwork of the brand you'll be in even more trouble.

Keep in mind that most people on this site are US Amazon sellers and sell on the US (.com) Amazon site, so how things work in Thailand won't apply to 99% of the forum.

[GhostOfAmazon]

Also I just looked up Bulgaria law and their copyright/trademark stuff works pretty much the same as USA.

[dachilla]

Originally Posted by GhostOfAmazon

Keep in mind that most people on this site are US Amazon sellers and sell on the US (.com) Amazon site, so how things work in Thailand won't apply to 99% of the forum.

That is correct, but as a lawyer, who has studied intellectual property laws in Europe, I can guarantee you that if you steal the artwork of another person (in this case the brand logo) and register it a trademark you do violate the intellectual property of the creator of the logo by doing so. In the US and anywhere else.

[GhostOfAmazon]

Originally Posted by dachilla

That is correct, but as a lawyer, who has studied intellectual property laws in Europe, I can guarantee you that if you steal the artwork of another person (in this case the brand logo) and register it a trademark you do violate the intellectual property of the creator of the logo by doing so. In the US and anywhere else.

Sure, but can you PROVE IT?

Not legally....copyright applies to artistic works (film, music, etc). Trademark applies to brands, logos, words, etc.

Trademark has to be FILED and APPLIED for. Copyright is automatic, but to sue requires filing.

Since COPYRIGHT doesn't apply to brands, logos, etc, if they haven't filed for a trademark, there's no legal recourse for the "brand owner".

At least that's my understanding of the law.

People who have real brands always file for trademarks. Because if your brand is legitimate, a little paperwork and a few hundred bucks is nothing.

Joe Blow buying his "custom" logos from AliExpress isn't a real brand....he's just Joe Blow on Amazon and he has no legal recourse on his "brand".

[al2000]

Dont worry real brand doesnt try to connent you through amazon.

[mrowcp]

A few days later, amazon contact me:

Hello,
We are contacting you because we received a preport of infringement from the right owner listed below. Sellers on Amazon.co.uk are not allowed to create listing or detail pages that infringe intellectual property rights. We removed the following content:

ASIN: 98989898 Blablabla...

We may let you list this content again if we receive a retraction from the rights owner. Their contact information can be found below.

Dzun Brum
info@blabla.com

If the rights owner agrees to retract their complaint, they must send the retraction to us at ....... ......... ........

So what Dzun Brum do: he create a new listing with his brand name at the beginning of the item description. Example: "Dzun-Brum Item For sale and Description Here". At the moment this item is selling from 5 different sellers and everyone do the same: "Seller-one Item BRAND For sale and Description Here", "Seller-two Item BRAND For sale and Description Here","Seller-three Item BRAND For sale and Description Here". This BRAND have official site and facebook web page so...none of them the right owner. I've sent a report to amazon about that and now I'm waiting to see what will happen.
Meanwhile amazon block my account because I was registered as Individual, but in the seller-verification-enquiry email (received 1 day before brand owner email) I'm telling that I resell a new items. So amazon want from me to update my profile as a business (must register with HMRC and obtain a tax number (UTR) from them and submit my info to Amazon. ) Amazon UK forum is full with topics like this one.
What a mess for just two days :(

P.S. Quote from amazon UK forum:

Amazon now require you to register as a business. You have to register with HMRC and obtain a UTR. Its happened to nearly everyone. Amazon have found too many people having multiple accounts selling bulk items as sole traders or 'individuals' So now they are asking you to register with HMRC more for the proof that you are legit and that for tax reasons you can prove you are not doing a scam or avoiding tax in UK.
If you have serious doubts then speak with an accountant.

[e2free]

Originally Posted by mrowcp

A few days later, amazon contact me:



So what Dzun Brum do: he create a new listing with his brand name at the beginning of the item description. Example: "Dzun-Brum Item For sale and Description Here". At the moment this item is selling from 5 different sellers and everyone do the same: "Seller-one Item BRAND For sale and Description Here", "Seller-two Item BRAND For sale and Description Here","Seller-three Item BRAND For sale and Description Here". This BRAND have official site and facebook web page so...none of them the right owner. I've sent a report to amazon about that and now I'm waiting to see what will happen.
Meanwhile amazon block my account because I was registered as Individual, but in the seller-verification-enquiry email (received 1 day before brand owner email) I'm telling that I resell a new items. So amazon want from me to update my profile as a business (must register with HMRC and obtain a tax number (UTR) from them and submit my info to Amazon. ) Amazon UK forum is full with topics like this one.
What a mess for just two days :(

P.S. Quote from amazon UK forum:

What is your question ?

If your item is removed then it's your fault I advised you many times to not ignore this message

[mrowcp]

Originally Posted by e2free

What is your question ?

If your item is removed then it's your fault I advised you many times to not ignore this message

My question is: if you and me selling the same item and I want to be the only seller of this item, I will send you the same letter. What are you going to do?!? Will you remove the item just like that without any proof of ownership? As @al2000 has already said, most of the brand owners (biggest most of the time), do not contact sellers directly.

[jakobrockz]

Could I file for a copyright immediately and would that be enough to kick other sellers off my listings?