To an increasing extent our experienced Patent and Intellectual Property Law Firm is informed by clients and Amazon sellers from around the world that they are wrongfully accused to violate the trademark (e.g. German trademark or EU trademark) or design (e.g. German design or European Union / formerly: Community design) of others through their offer on Amazon and that they sell counterfeit goods on the Amazon.de Marketplace in Germany.

Based on this the right holders file a complaint against the Amazon seller which leads to a blocking / suspension of their respective offer (or ASINs) and a potential loss of a good Amazon listing or sales rank and further negative effects. Due to the fact that this is an easy and fast way to hinder a competitor or to gain competitive advantage some companies use this option despite knowing that they are wrong (e.g. because of a missing infringement or because of the invalidity of their rights).

If you are the victim of such a baseless violation claim you should try to get your product reinstated and get the suspension stopped as soon as possible. This can be tried by either contacting Amazon (e.g. Amazon legal department in Germany) or the opponent (or his attorney). We are happy to assist you in such matters.

► Feel free to contact us by email or phone (without obligation) to find out how we can help you!

Furthermore, it may be recommendable to attack the opponent’s Intellectual Property rights (e.g. through a cancellation action against the respective design or trademark) or to attack him directly (e.g. based on unfair competition law or through a “negative declaratory action” which is directed at the determination that there was no violation). In theory you may also be entitled to get damages from the competitor but practically they are hard to enforce.

Due to the fact that legal proceedings can take some time and results are much more complicated and harder to get – and there’s also a certain litigation risk – it is generally recommendable to approach the Amazon legal department and the opponent (or his legal representative) first and as soon as possible (e.g. through a specialized lawyer) to get a quick result.

Should you be affected by the wrong suspension of your account or one of your products on Amazon our specialized German Intellectual Property Law Firm with Patent Attorney and Certified IP Lawyer is ready to assist you with our extensive experience in such matters. Feel free to contact us and ask for Dr. Florian Lichtnecker (Certified IP Lawyer) to discuss the next steps.

► Feel free to contact us by email or phone (without obligation) to find out how we can help you!