Attack/sue by SAD scheme (Schedule A Defendant) lawsuits Trademarks/Copyrights Infringement

[hobbykollectibles]

Hello all, I’m a seller in Hong Kong but register in US eBay, I sell mainly per-owned/vintage model kits and watches/misc items(Most of them are my personal collections purchased long time ago and some are brought from authentic toys website), I sell them coz I’m getting old and no longer collect them more and made some money for my family. All my listing are authentic and original, don’t know why it will be involved into a trademarks/patent case…. My payouts account had been frozen 2 days ago without any prior notice and receive the following message from eBay:

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Your payouts are currently on hold because your eBay payment account is restricted. A U.S. Court has directed eBay to freeze your account. Please reach out to plaintiff’s attorney at lfigueroa@HSPLEGAL.COM for more information and to resolve the matter.

Court Order Details
Court: U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Plaintiff: Toho
Trademark/Copyright/Patent at issue: Godzilla Trademarks and Copyrights
Court Case Title: Toho (23-cv-14720) v. The Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations Identified on Schedule “A”.
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It’s about “Godzilla” and I have 5 vintage Godzilla soft vinyl kit for sale. I had contact local eBay CS and he just can do nothing and tell me to contact the plaintiff’s attorney and see what’s going on, my payouts has been frozen.

Please help and kindly advise what to do, I study some other case seems they are just asking for money - It’s a large sum of money !!! Just wonder it could be any brand(ie.: Many brands are also included so nothing can be sell in the future????)

Please help & advise what to do and thank you very very much!!! All your opinion would be much appreciate!!

[katz.paw]

 I would do what they advise you to do.  Ebay is following a court order.

[kensgiftshop]

They told you what to do, contact the Plaintiff's Attorney.

[broto_64]

Please reach out to plaintiff’s attorney at lfigueroa@HSPLEGAL.COM for more information and to resolve the matter.

[mam98031]

Unfortunately we can't help you here, but luckily Ebay told you exactly who you need to contact in an effort to resolve the matter.  I sincerely hope things work out for you.

[hobbykollectibles]

Thanks all and yes I will contact Plaintiff's Attorney very soon but like to know more about it first, eBay CS advise me to look for the similar case in discuss forum coz they hv no idea what & how to help.

Someone post an article about the SAD scheme:
Small Sellers Are Getting Swept Up as Brands ‘Weaponize’ the Legal System
https://www.ecommercebytes.com/2023/07/16/small-sellers-are-getting-swept-up-as-brands-weaponize-the...

[soh.maryl]

The plaintiff's attorney is the one who has all the information about the case and can answer your questions.  No one else, no other entity, can come close to being as good a source for accurate information.

And, BTW, CS reps will tell you anything to get you off the phone.  Looking for a similar case in the discussion forums is a most ridiculous idea.  

[lord_and_lady_m]

Hello,

I'm in the UK and i've been banging on about these cases since early last year in the UK community forum. I've also spoken to some ebay legals about it to. They obviously cannot do anything about it but are concerned as a lot of the UK sellers are considering switching off the international shipping to avoid any future cases.

link to the UK thread   - I have kept this thread going since 2022 because it's important for any seller that gets a summons to be able to come to the forums and find support and i keep updating when I know of another major complaint happening.

I've read a fair few comments in a lot of posts about these SAD cases. When anyone says ignore it, please ignore that advice unless they have any experience of these cases. If you ignore it, you run the risk of having your ebay account closed permanently, and any future ones. The final order, goes to ebay and gives the instruction when the attorney follows through with it, along with handing over any money they have already restrained (if applicable). 

These cases always target none US sellers. From to time a few US ones end up in a case, and that's purely accidental by the plaintiffs attorney. Anyone in the US that gets this, check the wording of the complaint. If it says sellers are foreign in the bit about defendants, the attorneys should agree to dismiss as you are not their target.

For all none US sellers, the laws in the US will be different to your home country and the point of these complaints are to confuse and legally extort money from you when you may have done nothing wrong. Do not reply straight away without either getting legal advice or feel free to drop me a private message. Click my name and look for the contact button. Please only contact me on the forum messages or reply to this. I cannot reply through my ebay shop.

Recently there was a Smiley case, one of many many cases from this IP holder. This one targeted hundreds of etsy sellers. All the shops were suspended. They all managed to find each other from forums and clubbed together to get an attorney in the US to fight. They have all been dismissed, after a fair bit of time. Although they are now able to sell again, a lot of them reported their business struggling as they they lost any rankings they had.

These lawsuits are coming mainly from Illinois, but most of the ones recently that have come to our forums or people have contacted me about, are from Florida. They sometime come from California too.

If anyone has read this, it's a lot. Thank you for reading 🤗

[tobaccocardyahoo]

IMO the thing to do is have your lawyer contact the Plantiff's attorney.

Contacting them yourself can lead to making admissions which undermine your defense.

In many cases they will settle, and you will need to make a payment which could be reasonable or unreasonable, but will be much cheaper than a defense will cost.

[buvi1960]

Ok try to contact the attorney doesn't work they will never get back to you then all of a sudden you will get a message stating the case is closed the judge made a decision so you will probably end up with a lein against you the **bleep**s push everything through fast the lawfirm they said was on Clark Street in Chicago supposedly well they weren't in the building I'm in the U.S. I  like you have these idiots doing the same thing to me ebay says a judge has frozen my account but they took the money out for a shipping label I owed so as far as I'm concerned they are full of **bleep** I also took all my listing down because they will let your things sell but keep your money ebay sucks and they are probably part of this in my opinion and I really don't care what the ebay successes have to say so don't bother replying this happened to me ebay doesn't help you I never sold anything pertaining to this and all they will tell you is to get ahold of the attorney that will never reply but you will get message from ebay not the attorney or the courts sounds kinda fishy 

[mam98031]

@buvi1960 

These are real lawsuits and the OP needs to contact the attorney.  To assume this is "fishy" and do nothing about it, will likely be a very bad move.

You should read this.

https://www.ecommercebytes.com/2023/07/16/small-sellers-are-getting-swept-up-as-brands-weaponize-the...

[hobbykollectibles]

Thanks all!! 

I had already sent a message to plaintiff’s attorney on 23 Oct 2023 and now just waiting for their reply…

I change my store to vacation status as advised by eBay’s CS because I had only less than 5 dollars in my account, don’t want to sell items at the moment for all the income money will be freeze.

Also end over +160 movie related items such as Star Wars, Terminator…etc coz I’m afraid that they will be their next target, although they are authentic and original items.

Up to now I have no idea what they sue of but I know they sue for money.

[mix.c_54]

Please add this very recent story to your file. Few days ago my friends Ebay UK account was indefinitely suspended for this type of lawsuit SAD (Schedule A Defendant) Scheme with a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) from a judge in US Illinois.

The product in question is not even their clients brand. The product has its own brand and copyright from a huge company here in UK. and my friend has the account with this UK company. The product even has its brand mentioned on its eBay title.

They send a query to US law firm and they immediately ask them to pay  $8K so they can drop the case but my friend is not willing to pay it as they know they have not violated any law.

My friend send them a photo of the product in question with its own barcode and printed copyright claim from UK company plus the website of the manufacturing company with the product showed online. The product in question was automatically enrolled on Ebay global shipping and have not sold even 1 pc in the US. The irony of it is that their US "trademarked" product is also being sold all over UK and EU when it is  copyrighted by this UK company.

They are now waiting for their reply and being advised by other friends to seek legal help as this lawsuit seems done without checking and investigating the facts. It’s really really alarming if this type of issue is happening to legitimate sellers and eBay cannot do anything about it because of the TRO.

So far hundreds of thousands of small online sellers all over marketplaces are being victimized by this SAD Scheme and its counting. If anybody else are reading this, please look it up or you or your family member or your friend will be the next victim. Victims will be left defenceless unless you have deep pocket and can hire a lawyer to represent you or if you're lucky enough to find legal counsel who is willing to help pro-bono.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAD_scheme

https://columbialawreview.org/content/a-sad-scheme-of-abusive-intellectual-property-litigation/

https://blog.ericgoldman.org/archives/2023/03/my-new-article-on-abusive-schedule-a-ip-lawsuits-will-...

[tobaccocardyahoo]

It is quite possible for the sale of a brand which is valid in the UK could be infringement in the US.

There may be no abuse of process.

UK sellers who offer UK products for sale in the US need to do due diligence on trademarks and copyrights. Same with other sellers who are sourcing in one country and selling in another.

[simba6]

The marketing rights to items is often licensed to different companies in different countries.  So if you take an item from another country and sell it here, it violates the agreement with the license holder in this country.

I once got a nasty letter about a Pokemon plush I purchased from Hong Kong.  At least I was not taken to court.  You have a very serious issue there. I would get an lawyer, that  is real and you have to address it.