How can it be infringed without knowing it? ! The most common cross-border e-commerce trademark infringement case

There is a kind of infringement that has happened without your knowledge.

Merchants have been frozen PayPal accounts and sued for infringement.

In the field of cross-border electronic commerce, some media have reported that American buyers talked with China merchants and wanted to get their PayPal account (a third-party international payment platform) on the grounds of buying counterfeit goods at high prices, and then some American merchants used these chat records to sue them for infringement in the United States. Because the cost of litigation in the United States is extremely high, most merchants choose to ignore it, which eventually leads to the freezing of their PayPal accounts, and what’s more, all the funds inside are cleared.

The person in charge of a rights protection group in PayPal account once said that there are 134 members in the group and their frozen funds, amounting to US$ 1,794,511, which is equivalent to about RMB 11,149,656. At the same time, there are many merchants whose funds have been frozen to defend their rights on other online platforms, such as QQ and WeChat. According to incomplete statistics, there are more than 1,400 people.

litigation costs are high, and it is even more difficult to respond to the lawsuit.

According to American law, if you choose not to sue, you will be directly judged as losing the case, and then all the funds in your PayPal account will be emptied. The possibility of appealing for a refund is almost zero, so litigation is the best solution for those businesses whose funds have only been frozen and their accounts have not been emptied, but it is still a difficult process.

It may take a month or more for a small business in China to find a suitable American lawyer, and the fees of those American lawyers are very expensive, most of them are charged by the hour, and most of them cost as much as $400 or even $500 per hour. After the litigation is completed, it is also a huge expense for these merchants.

So how do you face this lawsuit?

Merchants who are sued for infringement and then have their PayPal accounts frozen are mainly divided into three types: those who did sell counterfeit products of the original brand, those who borrowed their PayPal accounts and those who were sued for no reason. However, no matter what kind of merchants, as long as they are sued for infringement and freeze the funds in their accounts, the most effective solution is to find an attorney to accept the lawsuit as soon as possible, otherwise the funds in their accounts will be frozen or even emptied.

After receiving the transnational prosecution, the merchant should immediately take the following steps:

The first is to immediately remove the infringing products from the shelves. If there are other substitutes that satisfy the buyers, the infringing products that are still sold in the United States will be removed from the shelves. The reason for doing this is not because it really involves infringement, but to reduce our losses and subsequent compensation as much as possible. However, if there are no goods to be replaced and there is no legal basis to prove that there is no infringement, the most rigorous method is to remove all the infringing goods from the shelves and stop selling them.

The second is to find a suitable lawyer to handle the case. Because such cases of cross-border trademark infringement must be tried locally in the United States, your attorney must also have a lawyer with a local lawyer qualification certificate. When looking for a lawyer, you should pay attention to the following aspects: he must have his own studio in the local area where the case is accepted; He must be familiar with the legal knowledge related to intellectual property rights and have relevant application technology; He can speak Chinese or be equipped with an interpreter. He has experience in related cases. Most lawyers in the United States charge by the hour. When he first took over your case, it is difficult to tell the specific payment fee, because the specific handling time of this case is still uncertain, which is related to the complexity of the case itself, the litigation strength of both the original defendant and the defendant, and the time of accepting the lawsuit. However, merchants in China can know a payment range in advance, and can adopt the pre-approval system for some work beyond the time range. When choosing a lawyer, you can deliver your lawsuit to several companies at the same time, and give a specific reply time. Most law firms will reply to a brief litigation plan within the specified time, so that they can compare and choose the most suitable one.

The next step is to seek an out-of-court settlement as much as possible. Before the final decision of intellectual property litigation in the United States, both the plaintiff and the defendant can seek out-of-court settlement. As can be seen from various cases, in most cases, the two sides reached a settlement before the judgment. Due to the high litigation cost, China merchants generally choose the strategy of out-of-court settlement. Property litigation not only costs both parties money, but also takes time, and merchants have no extra energy to operate production activities normally. Therefore, choosing out-of-court settlement will save a lot of extra expenses, and at the same time, it is also the best solution for merchants to formulate various mediation schemes to reach a settlement as quickly as possible and make the funds in the account work.

Finally, the sued businesses should respond together to reduce the litigation cost. Generally speaking, domestic small and medium-sized merchants know little about the field of intellectual property rights, especially foreign trade enterprises. They should know as much as possible about some legal knowledge related to intellectual property rights and foreign tort laws to protect their rights and interests, which is neither illegal nor protects themselves. However, if infringement is involved and a lawsuit is received, it is more cost-effective to gather together to find a lawyer to respond.