Fraud UK trademark applications - parallel import violations
This was originally a reply to a forum post by @Julia_Amzn@Julia_Amazon. I decided to post it separately as this will soon become a serious issue. I'm hoping Amazon will be proactive to keep honest sellers' businesses getting damaged by ill intended people/sellers.
TLDR: fraudsters find small US brands and fraudulently apply for UK trademark (fake ownership documents +170GBP), then kick other sellers off the listing via "parallel import violation".
***
Hi Julia,
Sorry for replying so late.
The trademark itself is a fraudulent application. If you check the address on the UK UPO website, it shows up as a company "Mint Formations Ltd", which is a business that forms UK Ltd companies. Also the company owner (public info) owns 10+ other UK Ltd companies, all classified as "Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet" businesses. I am pretty sure all the other companies have or had Amazon Seller accounts which were suspended/banned, or simply exist to illegally evade HMRC VAT (keep annual turnover below 85,000 GBP and switch owner of Amazon account to the new LTD)
I can go on about the illegal and fraudulent behavior of such sellers from abroad. This IP claim is one of those. Sellers such as these find small US based companies who are not active in the UK and fraudulently file for IP to the UK (fake ownership documents + 170 GBP filing fee), so they can sell the products on amazon.co.uk exclusively. There are "courses" being sold by "amazon gurus" that show them step by step how to do this. This is also how I know such an organized crime gang exists.
Such US companies do not even have any idea about having UK trademarks.
This is a serious issue that is hurting our account (we received yet another parallel import violation today, ASIN B0001LE1VC). If you look at the account that is now exclusively selling this item - which by the way sells 400+/month- is of course a brand new account with 0 reviews and only 1 product for sale. No brand owner would give such an amazon account exclusive rights, let alone letting them hold the trademark to their brand.
Amazon needs to take this issue seriously, as these cases are going to increase -because these "gurus" are selling "courses" showing them the way.
Let me know if you need any further details on this issue. It will hurt resellers like us as long as these types of mischievous and fraudulent people are allowed to carry out their actions on Amazon.
6 replies
Julia_Amzn
Hello @Seller_FKPphumoH8JrW,
Thank you again for sharing all the details and highlighting this scenario.
I will definitely investigate your case.
If other sellers have more examples of similar situations, please comment on this thread.
Thank you,
Julia.
Seller_FKPphumoH8JrW
Here is a list of brands that the same group of buyers have obtained fraudulent IP's from the UK for. Not that it matters but the sellers are all from one country...
- Hustle Butter Deluxe - AC Infinity - KINDPACK - Better Body Co. - Topicals - Thinkbaby - Educator - Vanicream - Medix 5.5 - Mrs. Stewart's Bluing - Del Indio Papago - Crystal Light - BIOCORNEUM - Swim-Ear - SO COZY - Nail-Aid - MGK - PINE64 - PRISMACOLOR - Quakehold! - Alopecia - Roebic - TENS 7000 - K9 CHOICE - Spring Tools - NATURE'S TROVE
Some of these brands actually belong to massive companies (Crystal Light belongs to KRAFT). UK trademark office needs to take action, it's going to be a SERIOUS issue with lawsuits flying everywhere.
PS. I got the list from a group chat, where fellow sellers that received bogus IP claims (including parallel import) collaborated to warn others' to not sell these brands.
Fraud UK trademark applications - parallel import violations
This was originally a reply to a forum post by @Julia_Amzn@Julia_Amazon. I decided to post it separately as this will soon become a serious issue. I'm hoping Amazon will be proactive to keep honest sellers' businesses getting damaged by ill intended people/sellers.
TLDR: fraudsters find small US brands and fraudulently apply for UK trademark (fake ownership documents +170GBP), then kick other sellers off the listing via "parallel import violation".
***
Hi Julia,
Sorry for replying so late.
The trademark itself is a fraudulent application. If you check the address on the UK UPO website, it shows up as a company "Mint Formations Ltd", which is a business that forms UK Ltd companies. Also the company owner (public info) owns 10+ other UK Ltd companies, all classified as "Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet" businesses. I am pretty sure all the other companies have or had Amazon Seller accounts which were suspended/banned, or simply exist to illegally evade HMRC VAT (keep annual turnover below 85,000 GBP and switch owner of Amazon account to the new LTD)
I can go on about the illegal and fraudulent behavior of such sellers from abroad. This IP claim is one of those. Sellers such as these find small US based companies who are not active in the UK and fraudulently file for IP to the UK (fake ownership documents + 170 GBP filing fee), so they can sell the products on amazon.co.uk exclusively. There are "courses" being sold by "amazon gurus" that show them step by step how to do this. This is also how I know such an organized crime gang exists.
Such US companies do not even have any idea about having UK trademarks.
This is a serious issue that is hurting our account (we received yet another parallel import violation today, ASIN B0001LE1VC). If you look at the account that is now exclusively selling this item - which by the way sells 400+/month- is of course a brand new account with 0 reviews and only 1 product for sale. No brand owner would give such an amazon account exclusive rights, let alone letting them hold the trademark to their brand.
Amazon needs to take this issue seriously, as these cases are going to increase -because these "gurus" are selling "courses" showing them the way.
Let me know if you need any further details on this issue. It will hurt resellers like us as long as these types of mischievous and fraudulent people are allowed to carry out their actions on Amazon.
Fraud UK trademark applications - parallel import violations
This was originally a reply to a forum post by @Julia_Amzn@Julia_Amazon. I decided to post it separately as this will soon become a serious issue. I'm hoping Amazon will be proactive to keep honest sellers' businesses getting damaged by ill intended people/sellers.
TLDR: fraudsters find small US brands and fraudulently apply for UK trademark (fake ownership documents +170GBP), then kick other sellers off the listing via "parallel import violation".
***
Hi Julia,
Sorry for replying so late.
The trademark itself is a fraudulent application. If you check the address on the UK UPO website, it shows up as a company "Mint Formations Ltd", which is a business that forms UK Ltd companies. Also the company owner (public info) owns 10+ other UK Ltd companies, all classified as "Retail sale via mail order houses or via Internet" businesses. I am pretty sure all the other companies have or had Amazon Seller accounts which were suspended/banned, or simply exist to illegally evade HMRC VAT (keep annual turnover below 85,000 GBP and switch owner of Amazon account to the new LTD)
I can go on about the illegal and fraudulent behavior of such sellers from abroad. This IP claim is one of those. Sellers such as these find small US based companies who are not active in the UK and fraudulently file for IP to the UK (fake ownership documents + 170 GBP filing fee), so they can sell the products on amazon.co.uk exclusively. There are "courses" being sold by "amazon gurus" that show them step by step how to do this. This is also how I know such an organized crime gang exists.
Such US companies do not even have any idea about having UK trademarks.
This is a serious issue that is hurting our account (we received yet another parallel import violation today, ASIN B0001LE1VC). If you look at the account that is now exclusively selling this item - which by the way sells 400+/month- is of course a brand new account with 0 reviews and only 1 product for sale. No brand owner would give such an amazon account exclusive rights, let alone letting them hold the trademark to their brand.
Amazon needs to take this issue seriously, as these cases are going to increase -because these "gurus" are selling "courses" showing them the way.
Let me know if you need any further details on this issue. It will hurt resellers like us as long as these types of mischievous and fraudulent people are allowed to carry out their actions on Amazon.
6 replies
6 replies
Julia_Amzn
Hello @Seller_FKPphumoH8JrW,
Thank you again for sharing all the details and highlighting this scenario.
I will definitely investigate your case.
If other sellers have more examples of similar situations, please comment on this thread.
Thank you,
Julia.
Seller_FKPphumoH8JrW
Here is a list of brands that the same group of buyers have obtained fraudulent IP's from the UK for. Not that it matters but the sellers are all from one country...
- Hustle Butter Deluxe - AC Infinity - KINDPACK - Better Body Co. - Topicals - Thinkbaby - Educator - Vanicream - Medix 5.5 - Mrs. Stewart's Bluing - Del Indio Papago - Crystal Light - BIOCORNEUM - Swim-Ear - SO COZY - Nail-Aid - MGK - PINE64 - PRISMACOLOR - Quakehold! - Alopecia - Roebic - TENS 7000 - K9 CHOICE - Spring Tools - NATURE'S TROVE
Some of these brands actually belong to massive companies (Crystal Light belongs to KRAFT). UK trademark office needs to take action, it's going to be a SERIOUS issue with lawsuits flying everywhere.
PS. I got the list from a group chat, where fellow sellers that received bogus IP claims (including parallel import) collaborated to warn others' to not sell these brands.
Julia_Amzn
Hello @Seller_FKPphumoH8JrW,
Thank you again for sharing all the details and highlighting this scenario.
I will definitely investigate your case.
If other sellers have more examples of similar situations, please comment on this thread.
Thank you,
Julia.
Julia_Amzn
Hello @Seller_FKPphumoH8JrW,
Thank you again for sharing all the details and highlighting this scenario.
I will definitely investigate your case.
If other sellers have more examples of similar situations, please comment on this thread.
Thank you,
Julia.
Seller_FKPphumoH8JrW
Here is a list of brands that the same group of buyers have obtained fraudulent IP's from the UK for. Not that it matters but the sellers are all from one country...
- Hustle Butter Deluxe - AC Infinity - KINDPACK - Better Body Co. - Topicals - Thinkbaby - Educator - Vanicream - Medix 5.5 - Mrs. Stewart's Bluing - Del Indio Papago - Crystal Light - BIOCORNEUM - Swim-Ear - SO COZY - Nail-Aid - MGK - PINE64 - PRISMACOLOR - Quakehold! - Alopecia - Roebic - TENS 7000 - K9 CHOICE - Spring Tools - NATURE'S TROVE
Some of these brands actually belong to massive companies (Crystal Light belongs to KRAFT). UK trademark office needs to take action, it's going to be a SERIOUS issue with lawsuits flying everywhere.
PS. I got the list from a group chat, where fellow sellers that received bogus IP claims (including parallel import) collaborated to warn others' to not sell these brands.
Seller_FKPphumoH8JrW
Here is a list of brands that the same group of buyers have obtained fraudulent IP's from the UK for. Not that it matters but the sellers are all from one country...
- Hustle Butter Deluxe - AC Infinity - KINDPACK - Better Body Co. - Topicals - Thinkbaby - Educator - Vanicream - Medix 5.5 - Mrs. Stewart's Bluing - Del Indio Papago - Crystal Light - BIOCORNEUM - Swim-Ear - SO COZY - Nail-Aid - MGK - PINE64 - PRISMACOLOR - Quakehold! - Alopecia - Roebic - TENS 7000 - K9 CHOICE - Spring Tools - NATURE'S TROVE
Some of these brands actually belong to massive companies (Crystal Light belongs to KRAFT). UK trademark office needs to take action, it's going to be a SERIOUS issue with lawsuits flying everywhere.
PS. I got the list from a group chat, where fellow sellers that received bogus IP claims (including parallel import) collaborated to warn others' to not sell these brands.
