Hello @Raya_Amazon

Thank you so much for your detailed answer, I have tried complying all the questions and answered them but still received the same response for apeal from amazon. I am attaching my apeal letter, Please if you can guide me what is missing now, They keep asking for the 3 documents which I can not provide because the complaining party is not responding to our emails. How can I get the retraction if the person complainer is not responding?

Hello,

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

Please provide any one of the below documents for proving authenticity of your listings:
– A letter of authorization (LOA) or licensing agreement (LA) directly from the rights owner indicating that you are authorized to use their intellectual property. You can find the contact information of the rights owner in the listing deactivation communication you have received.
– An invoice directly from rights owner to indicate that your products are original and are purchased from the rights owner directly. You can find the contact information of the rights owner in the listing deactivation communication you have received.
– Retraction from the rights owner to be sent to Amazon directly. You can find the contact information of the rights owner in the listing deactivation communication you have received.

Has your listing been deactivated in error?
If you believe there has been an error, please tell us why. Your explanation should include an explanation for how your listing(s) have not violated the brand’s intellectual property along with documents mentioned above to support authenticity.

Where do I send this information?
If you are appealing an action we have taken on your listings for an intellectual property complaint, go to Received Intellectual Property Complaints in the Product Policy Compliance section on Account Health (https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/performance/dashboard?ref=ah_em_mpa). Locate the deactivation record for the product listings you want to appeal and click on the Appeal button next to the record to submit your appeal to reactivate your listings. If you want to submit additional information, click on the “View appeal” button next to the deactivation record. Click the “Submit additional information” button to submit information necessary to reactivate your listings.

My apeal that I compile is as under:

Root cause(s):
Why did you receive the Design Right Infringement on these Particular ASINs? How did you list the ASIN?
We received a complaint from a rights owner alleging that one or more of our listings may be infringing the intellectual property rights of his Product.
ASIN: B093D62TK8
Infringement type: Design Right
Infringement type: 6113108
Complaint ID:7320869972
Greater details for root cause are a person with the email address {Moderator Edit (Jessica) email address removed} has filed a false right’s Owner complaint against our listing stating that we are infringing his/her patent rights which in fact is a “commonplace” design. It appears that Shenzhen BaiYao Trading Co., Ltd are using its UK and EU registered false designs to hijack Amazon process.

Was it listed by you or anyone else?
We are a brand registered Private Label sellers with Amazon and all of our Asin are listed internally by our company. Our Private label product was chosen after a through process of design patent and trademark search through our attorneys who particularly make sure that Our design does not violate anyone right’s of ownership nor interfere with any trademark or copyright.

Did you seek permissions from Rights Owner before mapping (If mapped)? If you have permissions, provide the same. If you don’t have the permission, please explain that why you have used it?
We are a trademarked private label brand registered under brand registry, Since we are not buying our products from any reseller or retailer our product is not Mapped by other sellers Map policies. Our Brand has established our MAP policies according to Amazon rules & regulations. Our products do not come under any other company mapping policies.

Did you gone through Amazon Intellectual Property policies before listing your items?
YES, We have gone through Amazon Intellectual Property policies before listing our items. We are a responsible seller and we take Intellectual property Policies very seriously, We have gone through amazon Ip policies very carefully with our legal team before listing our Asins.

What are the points you are checking out once you listing any item?
These are the points we are checking before listing any item, We are checking all the possible rules & regulations stated below as per Amazon policies before listing:

1. Product Page Style Guide 66- https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=G200270100&
2. Product Detail Page Rules 46- https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/G200390640
3. Selling Policies and Seller Code of Conduct 23- https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/G1801

Corrective measures:
When you have received the complaints, what are the actions you have taken?
When we received the complaint, We took following actions:
1- Hired a Ip infregment Law Firm to thoroughly check the Design Patent right claim which was made on our Listings.
2- Thoroughly checked our listings images, description and product page for any potential copyright, trademark or patent issue. (Which we did not find any)
3- Uploaded more clear Images and most accurate description for our product for customers.
4- Applied for Design Patents for all our Asins through IP lawn firm based in the UK with IPO GOV.
Patent Design numbers are 6158621 , 6158622 , 6158623 ,6158624.

Did you deleted them? If not, why you haven’t deleted them?
We have not deleted our Asin, In fact we have thoroughly reviewed them to find any related or mentioned design patent or trademark infregment which we didn’t find any. As a corrective measure We have Uploaded more clear Images of Our product, which are clearly different from the complaining party.

1-After full investigation and checking the filed patent number at (IPO UK https://www.registered-design.service.gov.uk/find/6113108) we identified that this is a false Right’s Owner Claim as the claimer’s product lacks Novelty, it has also lack of individual character or actually does not have any Novelty which is the Key most component to hold a Design Patent right as under SEC.2.01 & SEC.202 of Manual of Patent Practices under IPO.gov. Please see hereunder
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/manual-of-patent-practice-mopp/section-2-novelty

2-During the investigation we came to know that registered Community design is not valid as per the policies and regulations of IPO.gov.uk, the design shown in the RCD must be novel over all prior designs that have been made available to the public before the earliest filing date. This means that the design must produce a different overall impression on an informed user compared to all designs that have been made available the public prior to the earliest filing date. However, if you review the below pictures of shaker which proves the Invalidity of the RCD as per SEC.2.28 of Manual of Patent Practices https://www.gov.uk/guidance/manual-of-patent-practice-mopp/section-2-novelty . Please see the below example which proves it.

3-Secondly, the design in a valid RCD must also have Individual Character. The means that the design must produce a different overall impression on an informed user compared to all designs that have been made available the public prior to the earliest filling date. There is no Individual Character in complainer patent it is just an illustrated figure.
Few Other reasons why the claimer fails to make a valid right owner claim are as below:
a. Not a design (for example, the design shown is a graphical representation of nature, a living organism in its natural state, or a method of use);
b. Lack of novelty.
c. Lack of individual character;
d. The appearance of the design is solely dictated by its technical function;
e. The design is dictated by the form and dimensions of another product;
f. Lack of entitlement;
g. Conflict with a prior design right that was published after the filing date of the design.

Did you contact the Right’s owner to get a better understanding of this issue?
YES, we have tried contacting on the email provided in the Notice for the rights owner several times, to discuss the issue or ask for a retraction but no response from their side. We have sent them emails and have requested to contact us back but all in vain.

Did you check your existing listings to see for any infringement which may have gone unnoticed?
YES, We have checked all our existing listings thoroughly, Also have reviewed them with our Ip attorney to find any infregment which we might have not noticed, but did not find any discrepancies.

Preventive steps:
Did you implement what all mentioned as corrective actions?
YES, We have adopted all the corrective measure mentioned above to further prevent any such actions.
• We will never sell products which is patient by other seller, We take IP rights very seriously and understand and respects other owner’s rights against their products.
• Before listing product on amazon or sourcing any product Our legal team will check all related design patents or copyright existing in the market to make sure we do not infregment anyone rights of ownership.
How will you make sure that any Infringement related issues will not happen in your account going forward?
• As a responsible seller, we have hired an Amazon IP accelerator partnered IP Patent Investigating and IP law firm on our panel. To help us for any future complaints or recheck our asins before listing.
• We have applied registration for all our designs patients with IPO.GOV which will prevent us from getting into any future arguments with any other right’s owners as our designs are unique and belong to only our trademark brand.

How will you make sure the listings are abiding Amazon Listing /Intellectual Property Policy?
Our team will be closely monitoring the below before listing any new Asin or updating old Asin:
• Amazon Intellectual property policies at https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/G201361070
• Product Page Style Guide 66- https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/help.html?itemID=G200270100&
• Product Detail Page Rules 46- https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/G200390640
• Selling Policies and Seller Code of Conduct 23- https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/G1801

From where will you purchase the products going forward?
Our supplier is in China which is a registered manufacturer and we will have the right’s of ownership for our design patent products hence we will be manufacturing specially those just for our brand. We also market our product with completely different packaging, color, style, identification and label to avoid any similarity with any other brand or with any other sellers. Our packaging is unique and We have our trademark on our product and our packaging.

How will you make sure that the listings are 100% accurate to Amazon policies?
We have taken into consideration all the important and key elements which should be accurate for 100% according to amazon policies, listed as below
• We have taken all appropriate steps and quality checks to ensure that the product is stored, packed, and shipped appropriately to Amazon warehouse.
• We have chosen Amazon FBA service for the fastest delivery and best customer shipping experience. All our listings are FBA.
• We implemented Condition Quality Control - all stock before being shipped to FBA, will go through "double check” . It will be checked by two persons separately in order to avoid any human error and do not send damaged or defective items to Amazon warehouses. This procedure will ensure that we ship items to FBA in perfect condition and with no defects and it will help to avoid any complaints in the future.
• We have reviewed all our communication with buyers to understand if there are any issues, which so far on our listing we maintain a 5 Star review.
• We have considered all Amazon MAP policies and have listed all our listing according to that.
• Our products sourced from trusted manufacturer in China who have been ISO certified and Our product passes through all the international Quality checks.
• All of our listing has been updated with most recent and clear Images along with video’s of our product. Leaving no room of conflict or ambiguity for customers.

What are the changes you can bring in to control or to avoid similar violations going forward?
Few of the major changes which we have bring forward to avoid similar violations going forward are:
• Upload and Updated Listing images with latest and clear product Images, which shows clearly our color and design to the customer leaving no room for doubt or ambiguity.
• Have our Patent Number mentioned on our product packaging to avoid any conflicts.
• Specifically mentioning in our listings that the Product is Design right, copyright and trademark protected.
• Have our Brand trademark clearly visible and embossed on our product and packaging so no other party can claim the design or packaging style.
• We have appointed a full time Ip law firm who will be monitoring any violations or guiding us for future listing and sourcing by checking before hand all the design rights and patents in market.

If you are not authorized to sell a brand, how will you avoid listing a branded item?
As a responsible seller, who take our Amazon account and Business very seriously, we understand the importance of getting authorization from a brand before listing its item. We are aware that there are pre-approval requirements to a brand. In order to ensure that customers can shop with confidence on Amazon, we may require to obtain additional approval to list certain products and brands.
We will consider checking and learn more about Amazon’s policies regarding listing approval requirements in Seller Central Help:
– Categories and products requiring approval (https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/G200333160 49)
– Category, product, and listing restrictions (https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/200301050
– Policies and Agreements (https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/521 5)

We have thoroughly visited and understood Amazon’s intellectual property policy and abide by all the rules and regulation. We request to kindly review our apeal and reinstate our listings. We believe that amazon policies and process are keeping a safe environment for all sellers and create and healthy competitive environment for all.
Thank you
Team Fezli
{Moderator Edit (Jessica) link removed}