Safeguarding Your Brand: Confronting eCommerce Counterfeiting Head-On

Our attorneys at AU LLC can assist your business with defeating infringers, recovering damages, securing injunctions and enforcing trademark and copyright interests across online marketplaces.

$41 BILLION In Lost Revenue

It has been estimated that e-commerce trademark infringement, particularly involving counterfeit goods and piracy/copyright infringement, cost merchants in the U.S. nearly $41 billion alone.^¹

Marketplaces like Amazon, iOffer, eBay and AliExpress, among others, allow merchants to quickly “set up shop” and flood the market with unauthorized goods, which displace actual sales manufacturers would otherwise enjoy.  U.S. Customs’ skyrocketing seizure rates still represent less than 3% of the total infringing goods being sold.^²

You can search some of the most recent cases of IP lawsuits right here on our custom-made site.

Process Overview

1. After consultation, Client engages AU LLC based in Chicago, Illinois
2. AU LLC conducts investigation and evidence collection against online counterfeiters and infringers of your trademarks and copyrighted works around the world
3. With sufficient collected evidence, we bring a lawsuit(s) in U.S. federal courts for trademark and/or copyright infringement against infringing storefronts and persons
4. We obtain temporary restraining orders against infringers, resulting in frozen PayPal and merchant accounts
5. Defendants who wish to avoid further litigation may choose to settle, and after the defendants’ response window closes, we move to obtain default judgments against defendants who neglect the lawsuit(s)
6. Defaulted defendants’ PayPal and merchant accounts are liquidated for the client’s benefit, and permanent injunctions are entered. Defendants who do appear and substantively deny allegations of infringement, we vigorously pursue

CLIENT BENEFITS

Eradicating IP Infringers Globally

Counterfeiters’ storefronts on Amazon, eBay, Wish, Alibaba, Aliexpress, DHGate and other marketplaces, as well as independent websites, will be shut down, domains transferred, or infringing products un-shelved no matter where the owners are located.

Compensating Rights Owners

Infringers’ revenue maintained in PayPal and within major e-commerce platforms can be frozen, enabling IP rights owners to pursue infringers on the merits of claims and taking advantage of flexible remedies allowable under the U.S. Copyright Act and Lanham Act, including up to $2 Million in statutory damages for counterfeiting.

Securing Injunctions Against Further Conduct

In addition to acquiring permanent injunctions against infringers, our investigators will routinely monitor marketplace traffic of new infringing activity.

Client Costs:

Legal fees are contingent on client recovery.

A $10,000 bond (cash or surety) will generally be required after entry of the TRO.

The bond will be returned upon termination of the case.

Defend Your Brand with AU LLC

Ready to fortify your brand against the challenges of e-commerce counterfeiting? Contact us today at 312-900-9426 or contact us online to initiate a strategic consultation. Please note that fee-based consultations allow us to tailor practical solutions to your unique needs. Let’s safeguard your brand’s integrity together.

1 The National Bureau of Asian Research, The Report of the Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property, at 9, Pub. The Commission on the Theft of American Intellectual Property 2017, available here

2 U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, “Intellectual Property Rights Seizure Statistics Fiscal Year 2015,” available here