I received a malicious copyright infringement notice and as a result Amazon as removed my listing. Please help
Hello, I received a notice of copyright infringement on 04/29/23. Apparently another seller has claim he owns the right to the product and pictures I am currently selling. This is a baseless claim as the product I am selling was designed and patented by my supplier from which I am buying and I have authorization to sell it. One of the listing of the seller who submitted the claim uses the same pictures as I do. However these pictures comes directly from the supplier who is the rightful owner of these pictures and I have authorization to use them. After contacting my supplier about this, he told me that this was a recurring issue with this seller and that it was not the first time he has submitted false claims on other sellers selling the same product.
This is highly frustrating as Amazon will make you guilty until proven otherwise. The problem is that other than appealing the notice, which I did appeal on 04/29/23, there is no where I can submit actual proof in order to get my listing reinstated. Amazon says once my counter notice will be approved, it will take 10 business days to get my listing reinstated. I think this is ridiculous as Amazon will allow my listing to be off market for 2 weeks, hurting my sells and my reputation. I try contacting the seller who submitted the report, but I am not getting any answers. I'm not surprised as I believe they never intended to resolve the issue, they just wanted me off the listing. This is a manipulation of the platform and a policy violation. I don't understand how Amazon is allowing this as this seller has already done this in the past, he should have been investigated and his submissions rights should have been revoked.
When calling Amazon support team, they say they can't help as this is a different department that take care of this. How can I get in contact with someone from this department to discuss this matter and send them actual proof that I have the copyright permission from the rightful owner of the item to use his pictures and sell its product? Please help me resolve this asap as I can't wait 2 weeks for my listing to come back active.
Complaint ID: 12634469551
For some reason I can not upload the screenshot of the notice but here is a copy past of the first part of it:
Hello,
We are contacting you because we received a report of copyright infringement from the rights owner listed below. Sellers on Amazon.com are not allowed to create listings or detail pages that infringe copyright.
We removed the content listed at the end of this email. We may let you list this content again if we receive a retraction of the complaint from the rights owner. Their contact information can be found below.
I received a malicious copyright infringement notice and as a result Amazon as removed my listing. Please help
Hello, I received a notice of copyright infringement on 04/29/23. Apparently another seller has claim he owns the right to the product and pictures I am currently selling. This is a baseless claim as the product I am selling was designed and patented by my supplier from which I am buying and I have authorization to sell it. One of the listing of the seller who submitted the claim uses the same pictures as I do. However these pictures comes directly from the supplier who is the rightful owner of these pictures and I have authorization to use them. After contacting my supplier about this, he told me that this was a recurring issue with this seller and that it was not the first time he has submitted false claims on other sellers selling the same product.
This is highly frustrating as Amazon will make you guilty until proven otherwise. The problem is that other than appealing the notice, which I did appeal on 04/29/23, there is no where I can submit actual proof in order to get my listing reinstated. Amazon says once my counter notice will be approved, it will take 10 business days to get my listing reinstated. I think this is ridiculous as Amazon will allow my listing to be off market for 2 weeks, hurting my sells and my reputation. I try contacting the seller who submitted the report, but I am not getting any answers. I'm not surprised as I believe they never intended to resolve the issue, they just wanted me off the listing. This is a manipulation of the platform and a policy violation. I don't understand how Amazon is allowing this as this seller has already done this in the past, he should have been investigated and his submissions rights should have been revoked.
When calling Amazon support team, they say they can't help as this is a different department that take care of this. How can I get in contact with someone from this department to discuss this matter and send them actual proof that I have the copyright permission from the rightful owner of the item to use his pictures and sell its product? Please help me resolve this asap as I can't wait 2 weeks for my listing to come back active.
Complaint ID: 12634469551
For some reason I can not upload the screenshot of the notice but here is a copy past of the first part of it:
Hello,
We are contacting you because we received a report of copyright infringement from the rights owner listed below. Sellers on Amazon.com are not allowed to create listings or detail pages that infringe copyright.
We removed the content listed at the end of this email. We may let you list this content again if we receive a retraction of the complaint from the rights owner. Their contact information can be found below.
0 respuestas
Seller_CW0P5hgbsiqWX
Apparently, another seller has claim he owns the right to the product and pictures I am currently selling.
Infringements are a massive problem on the Amazon site, and Amazon has no real interest in dealing with them. They are turned over to an Auto-Bot who can do nothing but send notices. The process in broken. Amazon suggests an appeal, here is our unsuccessful appeal.
We own retail stores and have many accounts with manufacturers and most of our accounts have a company Rep that handles our account. When receiving an Infringement on one of the products we sell, I talked to Our Rep about the infringement. They knew nothing of the claim or the person whose name was on the Amazon email. So, we looked deeper into the name Amazon supplied as the contact person. And…. This is what we found.
Looking up the name and business on contact line, we found a one-page ad for their "so called" law firm. Their specialty is resolving infringement claims at Amazon. So, we contacted them. For $1000 sent by money order or Western Union, they would provide what Amazon needs, and for an additional $500 they will fix everything with the manufacturer. When I asked if they needed my company account number and company's Rep name, they said no, they have it on file because they are the ones who hired us. So, I asked then to tell it to me the account number, after all it was right in front of them, and they said they would AFTER I paid the Correction fees. Then they asked me what item this was in reference to, and I gave them a WRONG AMAZON ASIN number, and they SAID, "Yes, that in the product in question. It is a scan for sure. Then I said my company Rep looked into this situation and said it was falsely made, you said you have his name, right? He hung up the phone.
Now, things get worse. I send all my documentation to Amazon for the product involved, and Amazon responds, that is not good enough, the retraction has to come from the Law Firm who made the claim, Which, of course, is the ACTUAL SCAMMER.
As I've said for quite a few years now, infringement claims are out of control on Amazon.
Seller_CtKuA9IPJ7TMj
They literally don't care. I have spent days on the phone about this very issue. They do NOT care. This is a massive issue that they refuse to address, and the entire IP claims process needs a complete overhaul. I proved to several "seller support" members that the allegations against me are black hat tactics but they just don't care. They continue to allow anyone to file these claims, despite vehemently stating it's impossible unless you're the rights owner.
Desi_Amazon
Hello @Seller_9xhGCaUBj7csQ,
Desi from Amazon here.
From your post I understand you have received a copyright infringement complaint that you have responded to and would like to provide further information for.
This is correct. Currently, the only options available for responding to copyright claims are as follows:
- Retraction
- Dispute with a DMCA document counter-notice/ legal documents.
- Forgiveness path.
There will be no option to add attachments or written proofs of any sort.
The 10 day allotment period is the time frame allowed for the claimant to file a lawsuit so this process cannot be sped up. In addition, the appeals team does not have phone support so this will not be possible either.
Please let us know if you have any other questions.
Regards,
Desi
Seller_6gxmduAZ4G44b
Amazon is looking for feedback on the issue you are describing, if you are enrolled in the Brand Registry you can provide Amazon with feedback on your experience.
Here is a link to the Amazon forum Post
If you like, you can respond to Sandy on the above linked thread and she will send you an invite, it will be under Help Cases in you Seller Central as an Answered Case.
I just signed up and figured I will let other sellers who have been dealing with the same issue I have and mentioned it on this forum know so we can all give Amazon earful and hopefully contribute to eliminating this detrimental activity from Amazon platform.
