Infringement Notice - Parallel Import - Brand Owner Complaint

I am looking for some tips and advice on how to approach the below issue we are currently facing with Amazon and any helpful advice will be much appreciated.

We received the below violation email from Amazon:

Hello,

We removed some of your listings because we received a report from a rights owner that they may infringe the rights owner’s intellectual property rights. The rights owner communication about the alleged infringement and the listings we removed are below.

Why did this happen?

We received a report from a rights owner alleging that one or more of your listings have been imported into the UK without consent. Rights owners may use their intellectual property rights to prevent distribution into the UK of genuine branded goods sourced outside of the UK or the EEA. To maintain a trusted marketplace, we take immediate action to address rights owner complaints regarding infringements of their intellectual property rights.

We’re here to help.

If you need help understanding why your listings may infringe the intellectual property rights of others, please search for “Intellectual Property Policy” in Seller Central Help (https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/external/201361070).

How do I reactivate my listing?

You are required to provide written evidence that the product you are selling for the ASIN(s) have been authorized for import into the UK (or the EEA) with the rights owner’s consent.

Please include one of the following:

– A written authorization letter from the rights owner, issued to you.

– A written authorization letter from the rights owner, issued to your supplier. In this case, also include copies of invoices or receipts from your supplier issued in the last 180 days. These should reflect your sales volume during that time and contain your supplier’s contact information, including name, phone number, address, and website.

You can remove pricing information, but please ensure the rest of the document is visible. Your distributor’s or supplier’s contact information will remain confidential. External links of receipts are not accepted. For security reasons, we only accept attachments in the following file formats: .jpeg, .jpg, .pjpeg, .gif, .png, .tiff, .pdf, .txt, .csv. Sending forged or falsified documents will result in you no longer being able to sell to Amazon.

How do I submit this information?

Go to Received Intellectual Property Complaints under the Product Policy Compliance section in account health (https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/performance/dashboard?ref=ah_em_mpa). Locate the deactivation record for this product listing. Click on the Appeal button next to the listing deactivation record to submit information necessary to reactivate your listing.

Have your listings been removed in error?

If you have never sold or listed the product, please reach out to us and tell us.

If you think that the rights owner has made an error in sending the notice, please reach out to the rights owner and ask them to submit a retraction of this notice. We may only accept retractions that the rights owner submits to us directly. We do not accept forwarded or attached retractions.

These are the rights owner’s contact details:

– Rights owner name

– [Rights owner contact email)

For any other reason, please explain to us why you were warned in error so that we can investigate the case.

If you do not provide the information within 60 days, you will receive a request to remove the inventory associated with these listing per our removal policy (https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/202000820). Failure to address this request can lead to destruction of your inventory.

Infringement type: Parallel Import

ASIN: B00ILE01O2

Complaint ID:

We sent an email to the company claiming to have the right to the Brand and requested a retraction. They have gone silent and has not replied to our message

We appealed the violation with Amazon providing suppliers invoices. We also notified our supplier who informed us there is no restriction for us listing the product

Amazon accepted our appeal, removed the violation from our account health, and allowed us to re-list the product.

The below email was received from Amazon:

Hello,

We reviewed your appeal and accepted it for the following content:

ASIN: B00ILE01O2
Complaint ID:

To confirm that the ASIN or offer was reinstated:

1. In the Inventory section of Seller Central, select Manage Inventory.
2. Search for the ASIN or offer in question, or select Fix Stranded Inventory.
3. Edit the inactive ASIN or offer by updating the product information.
4. Save and finish.

If you are unable to confirm the ASIN or offer reinstatement, there may be additional reasons why these listings were deactivated. Please review and resolve any remaining issues by visiting your Account Health page (https://sellercentral.amazon.se/performance/dashboard?reftag=email_reinstate), or you can select Account Health on the home screen of the Amazon Seller app on your iOS or Android device. The Account Health dashboard shows how well your account is performing against the performance metrics and policies required to sell on Amazon.

We re-listed the product and then received another violation warning for the same product by the same company claiming the right to the product.

The second (NEW) notice from Amazon is below:

Hello,

We removed some of your listings because we received a report from a rights owner that they may infringe the rights owner’s intellectual property rights. The rights owner communication about the alleged infringement and the listings we removed are below.

Why did this happen?
We received a report from a rights owner alleging that one or more of your listings have been imported into the UK without consent. Rights owners may use their intellectual property rights to prevent distribution into the UK of genuine branded goods sourced outside of the UK or the EEA. To maintain a trusted marketplace, we take immediate action to address rights owner complaints regarding infringements of their intellectual property rights.

We’re here to help.
If you need help understanding why your listings may infringe the intellectual property rights of others, please search for “Intellectual Property Policy” in Seller Central Help (https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/gp/help/external/201361070).

How do I reactivate my listing?
You are required to provide written evidence that the product you are selling for the ASIN(s) have been authorized for import into the UK (or the EEA) with the rights owner’s consent.

Please include one of the following:
– Copies of invoices from your UK-(or EEA-)based supplier issued in the last 180 days. These should reflect your sales volume during that time and contain your supplier’s contact information, including name, phone number, address, and website.
– Copies of product importation documents (e.g., customs clearance documents, commercial invoices) issued to you or your supplier in the last 180 days. These should reflect your sales volume during that time and contain your supplier’s contact information, including name, phone number, address, and website.
– A written authorization letter from the rights owner, issued to you.
– A written authorization letter from the rights owner, issued to your supplier. In this case, also include copies of invoices or receipts from your supplier issued in the last 180 days. These should reflect your sales volume during that time and contain your supplier’s contact information, including name, phone number, address, and website.

You can remove pricing information, but please ensure the rest of the document is visible. External links of receipts are not accepted. For security reasons, we only accept attachments in the following file formats: .jpeg, .jpg, .pjpeg, .gif, .png, .tiff, .pdf, .txt, .csv. Sending forged or falsified documents will result in the removal of your Amazon selling privileges.

How do I submit this information?
Go to Received Intellectual Property Complaints under the Product Policy Compliance section in account health (https://sellercentral-europe.amazon.com/performance/dashboard?ref=ah_em_mpa). Locate the deactivation record for this product listing. Click on the Appeal button next to the listing deactivation record to submit information necessary to reactivate your listing.

Have your listings been removed in error?
If you have never sold or listed the product, please reach out to us and tell us.
If you think that the rights owner has made an error in sending the notice, please reach out to the rights owner and ask for a retraction of the notice. To retract the complaint, the rights owner must send the retraction to us at notice-retraction@amazon.co.uk or use the retraction function in Brand Registry.

These are the rights owner’s contact details:
– Legal
– XXXXXXXX.co.uk

We can only accept retractions if the rights owner clearly states that they made an error. For any other reason, please explain to us why you were warned in error so that we can investigate the case.

Rights owner communication:
Hello,

This stock has been imported into the UK using an external channel other than the official means of distribution.

This stock is not intended for the UK and is going against the wishes of the manufacturer and the Rightsholder.

Kind Regards,

Name Name

Infringement type: Parallel Import
ASIN: B00ILE01O2
Complaint ID:

You can view your account performance

We have bought this product from a UK supplier who have informed us there is no such restriction on the item being imported or sold in the UK