A Lesson in Intellectual Property
Before you read on, we take no side other than our clients’ and their best and most profitable interests.
We had a client build up an Amazon listing only to see it disqualified due to an intellectual property (IP) infringement. We will tell you the story, give a brief overview of IP and how to avoid infringement and maybe even continue to sell the product.
Pricing comes down to, are you dealing with the manufacturer or the supplier. The manufacturer is the fist person in the chain, if you deal directly with them, you can get it at the cheapest price.
The infringement
The client was selling suspension trainers. Looked the same as the TRX but sold for a quarter of the price. The client was not the only seller selling imitations. He built up the listing, getting reviews and moving his way up the search ranking. They then bought a big shipment that was delivered, and they were ready to start seeing a profit, then disaster struck. A simple email from Amazon saying ‘Your ASIN ***** has been suspended due to intellectual property violation’. Now what? First you have to find out what IP you have infringed (I’ll cover this later), turns out TRX have multiple world wide patents, trade marks and design protections (they’re not playing around), then you need to either prove that you have not, well you can ask the company to retract the complaint but that’s pointless and is never going to happen, or if you are infringing you need to make changes if you can. If it is something as substantial as the patent, which theirs was, then you’re screwed. They had to get rid of the stock and pay for the destruction. £4500 down to toilet. Oops!
Types of IP
- If I photographed it, drew it, sang it, wrote it, and I can prove it is mine and original, you can’t use it without my permission, unless I’m dead or 100 years have gone by.
- If it works in a certain way or performs a certain function that nothing that has been patented before, I can patent it, then you can’t use it unless I give you permission, the patent lapses without renewal or you use it in a part of the world my patent does not cover.
- This covers registered logos, phrases and names. Try using ‘Just do it’ Nike will execute you unless , they give you permission, their trade mark lapses without renewal or you use it in a part of the world my trademark does not cover.
- Design protection. If a drinks bottle in the shape of a rhino, then I design protect it, that means you can’t use it, unless, just like patents, I give you permission, the design lapses without renewal or you use it in a part of the world my design does not cover.
Ways around it
You can plead your case to Amazon or eBay and hope they see the error of their ways, but you could also try explaining to your mugger why he should get back into education then start a career in catering but that probably won’t work either.
You can hire a solicitor to plead your case on your behalf. That will probably wipe out your profits for the next 3 years even if it works and just like hiring security to protect you from the mugger, is what you are losing enough to justify the cost of protecting it?
You can ask Amazon or the complaining company what you have done wrong. This may work and once you know you can rectify it. If it is something like the title you have used, that is a quick and free fix. If it is a patent infringement then you have a potentially unfixable problem. Though you could have a design built to avoid the patents, have it protected, then have it manufactured yourself.
You can accept that you can’t sell in that market place and sell in another country, for example, Fat Gripz are design protected and trade marked all over the word. However, Bosu trade marked all over the world but only patented and design protected in the USA leaving the rest of the world open for business.
I agree, if you have an idea and someone steals it, that sucks. That’s why you should protect it. However, if you think it is unethical to use someone else’s idea to make money then you are more righteous than Apple and maybe the top people at Apple wish they were more ethical like you or maybe having their own plane keeps them occupied.
For more info on IP take a look at these other articles. If you have any questions on how to protect your idea or avoid accidentally losing lots of money by getting torpedoed for infringing someone else’s idea, get in touch and we can help guide you to make the best and most profitable decision.
