Need some Help IP complaint that really went sideways.

Selling on Amazon
1

First thing first the item in question.

The combat action tourniquet, something that is counterfeited left and right.

The notice:

Hello,

We removed the listings below.

ASIN: B01ITAKG6A
Infringement type: Utility Patent
Complaint ID: 14781199371
Rights owner name: [email protected]
Rights owner email: [email protected]

Why did this happen?
We removed some of your listings because we received a report from a rights owner alleging they may infringe upon their Utility Patent. This is against Amazon policies. Sellers on Amazon must comply with Amazon listing policies and are not allowed to sell products violating Amazon policies (أمازون).

How do I reactivate my listings?
To reactivate your listings, please send any of the documents listed below for us to review:
– A court order stating you are allowed to sell the products and hence are not violating Amazon policy for each of the listings mentioned in the deactivation notification.
– Work directly with the rights owner who reported the violation to submit a retraction. We may only accept retractions that the rights owner submits to us directly. We do not accept forwarded or attached retractions. These are the rights owner’s contact details:
– Rights owner name: [email protected]
– Rights owner email: [email protected]

Have your listings been removed in error?
If you believe there has been an error, please submit an explanation. Your explanation should include the following information:
– How the removed listings have not violated the Amazon Intellectual Property Policy.
– Evidence that shows the removed listings have complied with the Amazon Intellectual Property Policy.

How do I send the required information?
Go to Received Intellectual Property Complaints in the Product Policy Compliance section on Account Health (Server Busy). Locate the deactivation record for the listings you want to appeal and click on the Appeal button next to the record to submit your appeal to reactivate your listings.

What happens if I do not send the requested information?
If we do not receive a response, the listings will remain removed and the violation record will remain on your Account Health page for up to 180 days after the notification or until the violation is addressed. Leaving this or other policy violations unaddressed may result in account deactivation.

We’re here to help.
If you need help understanding why your listings may infringe the intellectual property rights of others, search for “Intellectual Property Policy” in Seller Central Help (أمازون). You may contact us for more information if required (Amazon Sign-In)

You can view your account performance (Server Busy) or select Account Health on the home screen of the Amazon Seller app on your iOS or Android device. The Account Health page shows how well your account is performing against the performance metrics and policies required to sell on Amazon.

– Download the iOS app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amazon-seller/id794141485
– Download the Android app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.sellermobile.android&hl=en_US

Thank you,

Amazon.com

Sincerely, Amazon.com

yes we are authorized dealers of this item

I sent out an e-mail to the “rights holder” after contacting the actual rights holder and not yet receiving a response

Craig Crosby

We have reached out to composite resources to find out if you are their designated agent. The Combat Action Tourniquet is protected under US patents 7,842,067 and 7,892,253 owned by Composite Resources the parent company of CAT Resources. We are authorized resellers of this brand and source all our CATs from their only authorized wholeseller NAR.

I am requesting you retract the complaint as we are selling genuine CATs. If you are truly their agent this can be easily confirmed. If there is some other patent that you believe we and as a result Composite Resources is infringing upon please let me know which patent number it is. As you can see this is being CC’ed to our contact at Composite Resources.

Please respond as soon as possible or we will be forced to escalate this.

Message to actual rights holder:

.I have been accused of violating a patent for the CAT gen 7 in black

The alleged patent holder is [email protected] Is this a designated agent for your enforcement? I need to know if they are disputing your patent or if they are acting on your behalf. My problem is (pleas read below) they will not accept anything except from the rights owner who this [email protected] is claiming to be.

Here is where it goes sideways from the alleged rights holder:

I received your email regarding Amazon IP enforcement against NAR / C-A-T products and sellers suggesting The Counterfeit Report may be the source.

The Counterfeit Report discontinued NAR IP enforcement on August 1, 2023, at the direction of Dereck Thompson, NAR CFO. No IP complaints or correspondence have been issued since that date.

Additionally, I do not submit complaints under my named email (craig@@thecounterfeitreport.com) as cited in the Amazon correspondence.

Currently, I don’t have any additional information to offer, but I am pursuing the issue with a very unresponsive Amazon. Please contact Derek Thompson at NAR for additional information, he is aware of the situation and has referred it to NAR legal counsel.

Regards,

Craig

Craig Crosby, Publisher

The Counterfeit Report

Now it is interesting to note that the only seller left on this item is Amazon itself.

I need help on how to craft a response to this, knowing I cannot get a court order, and that they will not recognize a forwarded e-mail or a letter from the actual rights holder.

Any suggestions? Please and Thank you

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2

Wow, this sounds shady.

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3

Ya think?

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4

Where’s @oneida_books when we need him?

I think Rob is your best bet for good advice on this.

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5

NAR and their “legal counsel” need to be contacted and informed that their agent, acting on their behalf has apparently acted outside of his authority, and sent Amazon a bogus IP complaint.

You do this because you want to make the problem between NAR and their agent/contractor, with you as an innocent bystander. You do NOT want to accuse Amazon of any error or unethical acts, as it makes no sense that Amazon would fabricate an IP complaint using the name of the CORRECT agent for the enforcement task, one who is only SAID to have been terminated as an agent.

Accusing Amazon is going to be THEIR pleasure, you must take Amazon’s report at face value, and DEMAND the NAR retract , in writing to Amazon, and pronto.

Be sure to tell them that this is not about selling THEIR one product, it affects you in your entire Amazon business. I would add:

“NAR’s liability in this regard is plainly unlimited, so prompt action is requested to resolve and correct any confusion between your company and your agent of record.”

But I would never sell that product again… too much friction. If you have any stock left, we all could use one of those in our car trunk first aid kits, so you can sell 'em to us, here via paypal or whatever - I’ll take 2.

1 Like
6

Reads to me, that Amazon found a vendor for this item and is throwing sellers under the bus with help from the IP rights owner.

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7

Watching … LOL

Have your listings been removed in error?
If you believe there has been an error, please submit an explanation. Your explanation should include the following information:
– How the removed listings have not violated the Amazon Intellectual Property Policy.

A. Provide your invoice and LoA

B. Explain that “[email protected]” is not the patent holder, not does this email represent the patent holder. Provide valid emails for them

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8

I would gladly buy some for personal use and for donation to local LE and friends still in the armed forces. Send me a PM where I can get some.

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9

They also call that lurking… ROFLOL :rofl:

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10

When it rains it pours. My site is currently under some sort of attach. Some one has so far 2000 different credit cards and is running all of them with the same order on my site.
I can’t even get to the back end to shut down the site.

However let me know how many you want and I can e-mail you an invoice through quickbooks with a payment link.

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11

My concern is that Amazon will turn around and say that the letter is not comming from whoever “[email protected]” is

My draft is basically going to be:

The Combat Action Tourniquet is protected under US patents 7,842,067 and 7,892,253 owned by Composite Resources the parent company of CA T Resources. We are authorized resellers of this brand and source all our CATs from their only authorized wholeseller NAR.

(screenshots of the patent)
(LOA)

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12

You could also attach a screenshot of the USPTO assignment records for the patent, showing that the “agent” is not a rightsholder, and then attach the email from the actual rightsholder disclaiming the agent’s authority.

https://assignment.uspto.gov/patent/index.html#/patent/search/resultAbstract?id=7892253&type=patNum

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That was what I meant by screenshots of patent

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14

Our "we have been falsely accused letter

To whom it may concern

We have been falsely accused of infringement of a Utility Patent by an unknown entity. This entity is neither the rights holder nor the agent of the rights holder. The contact information they have provided is false as well. It goes to another entity that states they are not the agent nor the rights holder.

ASIN: B01ITAKG6A

Infringement type: Utility Patent

Complaint ID: 14781199371

Rights owner name: [email protected]

Rights owner email: [email protected]

The Combat Action Tourniquet is protected under US patents 7,842,067 and 7,892,253 owned by Composite Resources the parent company of CAT Resources. We are authorized resellers of this brand and source all our CATs from their only authorized Distributor NAR.

Their contact is XXX

As proof we have submitted screenshots of the UTPSO site (see Patent 7892253.jpg and patent 7842067.jpg) showing the chaing of assignment that is currently held by Composite Resources.

NAR is their designated USA Distributor (see Distributor.jpg) as shown from their website. The statement of Trademark and applicable Patents can be seen on Trademark.jpg

Furthermore see E-mail from alleged rights owner.jpg for our communication with [email protected]

For our letter of authorization for all NAR properties see LOA 3rd Pty LW 07212023_encrypted_.pdf

For a paid invoice containing the item in question see IN674863 - _Invoice - PAID 2023-01-04.pdf

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15

Just curious how the LOA is formatted.

I had a case sometime last year where the LOA format that I’ve been using for a long time was not being accepted. It seems like they’ve become more stringent with what they want to see on the LOA.

You may run into this issue as well.

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16

I fully expect to lose despite the overwhelming evidence I have submitted.

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17

[Quietly files trademark application for “Turkey-Net Tourniquet”]

1 Like
18

As expected, just a form letter in response that I didn’t provide a court order

Hello,

Thank you for submitting information to reactivate your listings. We reviewed your appeal and determined that you have not submitted the required documents or the documents submitted are invalid. Please include the missing information listed below and resubmit in your appeal.

Please send any of the documents listed below for us to review:
– A court order stating you are allowed to sell the products and hence are not violating Amazon policy for each of the listings mentioned in the deactivation notification.
– Work directly with the rights owner who reported the violation to submit a retraction. We may only accept retractions that the rights owner submits to us directly. We do not accept forwarded or attached retractions. These are the rights owner’s contact details:
– Rights owner name: [email protected]
– Rights owner email: [email protected]

How do I send the required information?
Go to Received Intellectual Property Complaints in the Product Policy Compliance section on Account Health (Amazon Sign-In). Locate the deactivation record for the listings you want to appeal and click on the Appeal button next to the record to submit your appeal to reactivate your listings.

What happens if I do not send the requested information?
If we do not receive a response, the listings will remain removed and the violation record will remain on your Account Health page for up to 180 days after the notification or until the violation is addressed. Leaving this or other policy violations unaddressed may result in account deactivation.

We’re here to help.
If you need help understanding why your listings may infringe the intellectual property rights of others, search for “Intellectual Property Policy” in Seller Central Help (أمازون). You may contact us for more information if required (Server Busy)

You can view your account performance (Amazon Sign-In) or select Account Health on the home screen of the Amazon Seller app on your iOS or Android device. The Account Health page shows how well your account is performing against the performance metrics and policies required to sell on Amazon.

– Download the iOS app: ‎Amazon Seller on the App Store
– Download the Android app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.sellermobile.android&hl=en_US

Thank you,

Amazon.com
Sincerely, Amazon.com

1 Like
19

Keep reopening with the same letter, but I would put up top - “Please Escalate”

Also I would reformat.

JMO

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20

I did come here for advice and help so THANK YOU!

7 Likes