Nothing is super easy when it comes to Amazon. Does this lawyer know what it’s like to deal with Amazon. Just ask Tried and Tested about that and dozens of others.
To get good results with a lawyer X Amazon, it needs to be a lawyer that regularly deals with Amazon and has a way to get inside with their contact.
Any other situation is a shot in the dark. With that said, I wouldn’t get pumped up by what the lawyer told you unless they know how to work the system.
It would be super easy if someone actually read it, cared, and took action on it. But given TT’s situation with just getting his account reinstated, it seems like legal does not respond unless arbitration or a lawsuit has been filed.
Well I’m not pumped, but a feeling relief of not simply accepting that I have to take one in the A and like it, is a refreshing feeling for once. Clearly this is enough money to justify tens of thousands in court costs/letters/etc, but I don’t think it would come to that and neither does the attorney,.
Yes, they have sued Amazon before and won several time for IP theft/damages.
Well the distinction with TT is that they are demanding that Amazon fix Amazon, where as I am demanding they stop injuring me. Can’t get Amazon to injunction themselves unlike IP violations.
He said step one, use Seller Support document everything,
Step 2 send letters to Amazon legal with a time window. (they will handle this)
Step 3 file case and request immediate injunction while waiting for case to resolve or settle.
But none of this will happen as the linked party will most likely run out of inventory in the first place.
Or the bot will “correct” itself. That’s the main issue with these things, it tends to come and go and you can’t get an injunction for something that’s not occurring.
It’s also possible that the competitor used VTR’s Amazon ASIN when they set up their Walmart.com listing and Amazon is seeing this as a comparison.
When you manually set up a product on Walmart.com, they do ask you for an external ASIN as well as UPC. They don’t specifically ask for an Amazon ASIN but a competitor might think they are going to get reviews or sales history or some other benefit from including the ASIN of a higher reviewed, sold ASIN.
I don’t see anywhere an ASIN is shown on Walmart.com listings but it might be searchable somewhere, Amazon found it and now thinks that it is the same item at a lower price causing this issue.
The AS in ASIN stands for “Amazon Standard” so yes they are specifically asking for an Amazon ASIN.
If a competitor did indeed do this, that’s a bit tricky, since unlike misusing someone else’s UPCs (which they own), you don’t own the ASIN, Amazon does.
Right, and if you don’t fill it in, Walmart does it for you when they establish the link. Found that a bit unusual.
Right, so why is Walmart using “ASIN”, capturing it so openly and transparently. You would think Amazon would have an issue with this and I’m sure they know.
Maybe they work together on this with price control / fixing.
Perhaps Amazon is tracking Walmart’s “Item ID’s”, just not where the seller can see it.
First we have to give Amazon the opportunity to correct the issue. Secondly I have to do a test buy of the comparison item and document. Just because I know it is not ours does not mean I can prove it is not ours when it comes to the big picture.
The lawyer is reaching out to the manufacturers legal department to dot I’s and cross tees in regards to our mold, production runs, and any potential of grey market goods like blemishes etc. that may head out the back door or sold as defective to a third party.
Once I have documented the compared item, it’s packaging and everything, I forward it to him and he compiles everything and reaches out to Amazon legal. The seller on Walmart is not infringing because they are using a picture of a similar item and are not using our brand or anything anywhere on the listing. Amazon is the one drawing the comparison and creating that devaluation.
And to clarify, this legal firm has not pursued Amazon for item linking price capping, but they have for other IP infringement.
OK, so the product at issue seems to be a tire. You need to make clear that YOUR tire is distinct from the Walmart offering, in that YOUR tire fits the range of years that the vehicle at issue was made PLUS ONE EXTRA YEAR BEFORE the vehicle was introduced.
This distinction will never matter, as no one has that “introduction year minus one” vehicle, but the Walmart guy would never list that same range of years.
Dad and I rally a 1952 MG-TD, and in a time-speed-distance rally, one is only allowed “authentic to the period” navigational aids, so no GPS allowed, as that would make it child’s play to work out the exact speeds required to finish each leg exactly on time (as being early is as bad as being late in TSD).
But I have the nuclear weapon of 1950s rallying - a Halda Speed Pilot. A completely mechanical chronometer plus fancy “computer” connected to the speedometer cable to show you if you are “behind” or “ahead”, and by how many mins/secs for the distance and time you have dialed in.
It is impossible for anyone to verify the exact year of my Halda’s manufacture, as the sticker is gone, but the made no changes between the 1950s and the 1960s, so various competitors have lodged objections with the officials when they would see our Halda nestled in the glovebox, which we would leave open (all the better to discourage them, and make them feel that they had already lost during the “car show” before the start of the rally).
What year is my Halda? I dunno, but no one can prove that it is not a 1952, so I am good to go.
But you can do the reverse, and create a part that is completely unique.
There’s numerous problems with this idea though. For one, there could be an older model for that year where the replacement part does NOT fit for it. The Amabots could also detect that you listed a replacement part for an original product that does not exist, and hit you with a violation. Also, if I were the original product manufacturer, and someone listed a replacement part for a model that does not exist I would hit them with a trademark infringement claim. Keep in mind third party replacement parts generally takes business away from the OEM, so if they have a reason to shut you down they’ll do it.
If you’re the owner of all the trademarks involved, you could do this if you wanted to, but using someone else’s trademark in a way that could be confusing/misleading to customers is a no-go.
Nope, not a tire. It is a bearing assembly for a wheel / tire, so close guess. Tire and wheel assemblies on tractors cannot be swapped normally, as most tractor tires are directional and have to be mounted for left or right. Something we learned the hard way with a bunch of nice white New Holland tires and wheels about 5 years ago. They were all mounted for one side of the tractor . We had to pay a tire dealer to remount them to make pairs which then made the 20 assemblies into 10 each, which is not worth listing.
Using other brand names in any part of an Amazon listing is risky in general. Even if what you’re doing is legal it’s too easy for the bots to shut you down and not accept any kind of appeal.
. We had to pay a tire dealer to remount them to make pairs which then made the 20 assemblies into 10 each, which is not worth listing.