Listing deactivated due to false Design patent complain, complainer not responding and amazon sending generic response

Hello

We have received an Ip design patent complain from a competitor who has patent a common place design “A cocktail shaker” which have patented to 2 other sellers too, Before launching our product we did design changes and submitted all the related proof of difference in design along with our authentic invoices and letter of agreement from our manufacturer in our plan of action. But amazon keep sending us generic response to submit invoice, letter of agreement or retraction from the rights owner.

The rights owner is a chinease seller who is manipulating the previllage to complain and is not responding to any of our email conversation to get a retraction.

we have faced 1 month of loss of sales due to this situation. Please some help us resolve this issue or share any insights @amazonteam please some help we have complied all our POA as per the requirements, review below please
Root cause(s):
We received a false complaint from a rights owner alleging that one or more of our listings may be infringing the intellectual property rights of his Product.
ASIN: B093D6MZJ1
Infringement type: Design Right
Infringement type: 6113108
Complaint ID: 7320869972
Greater details for root cause are a person with the email address zhengyaoqiang@yahoo.com 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.

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 rights of ownership nor interfere with any trademark or copyright.
Contacted the Right’s owner to get a better understanding of this issue.
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. Showing this is just a competitor trying to bully us by bringing our listing down.
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.
Corrective measures:
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- 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.

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.

Preventive steps:
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.
• 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 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.

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 named YW-HUHE TRADING COMPANY
ADD :Room 302, Unit 2, Building 152, Shankou Village, Jiangdong Street, YW
Tel/Fax: 0086-13298686051 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 have attached letter of authorization from the manufacturer. We also market our product with completely different packaging, color, style, identification, label and design 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.

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.

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.

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
www.Fezli.com