Offering for sale, or actually selling, any products that infringe on the intellectual property rights of others, is strictly prohibited on Wish. This behavior violates Wish’s Merchant Terms of Service and can expose Merchants to legal risks. Owners of intellectual property rights (Plaintiff(s)) can, and often do, initiate civil lawsuits against Merchants for offering to sell, or actually selling, allegedly infringing products. These lawsuits commonly result in the issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and/or other injunctions. Regarding TROs, please note the following:
- A TRO typically requires that the following actions be taken against a Merchant’s Wish account:
(a) suspend Merchants’ accounts;
(b) disable and remove all of the allegedly infringing products referred to in the TRO; and
(c) withhold monetary disbursals or payments to the Merchant, or take other similar actions related to Merchants’ accounts.
Please note, TROs can affect a Merchant’s entire Wish account, and often is not limited to actions related to the infringing products.
- A Merchant may take certain action when named in a TRO, and failure to do so could impact the Merchant’s business. For example, a court could grant a default judgment against the Merchant; this is a monetary judgment awarded against a Merchant for failure to appear in, or respond to, a TRO. Such default judgments can sometimes result in the award of a greater monetary amount than a settlement the Merchant might reach with the Plaintiff. Moreover, if a default judgment is entered against a Merchant, Wish may be required to:
(a) permanently disable the Merchant’s storefront; and/or
(b) release all funds contained in the Merchant’s Wish accounts to Plaintiffs.
- Although Wish Merchants are named as parties to TROs, Wish is not a named party. Wish therefore cannot provide legal advice to Merchants. The actions Wish may take regarding Merchant accounts are required by the terms of the court-ordered TRO. However, Merchants may choose to challenge the merits of the claims raised by the Plaintiff, which, if successful, could result in a Merchant’s dismissal from the TRO (or possibly lower or no monetary penalties). Merchants might therefore want to seek legal advice from an attorney. Alternatively, Merchants might consider contacting Plaintiff’s named attorney or representative directly.
- Wish will receive confirmation from Plaintiff’s counsel of any TRO settlement, dismissal, default, or other judgment entered by the court. Depending on the terms of any settlement or court order, Wish may then:
(a) disburse monies owed to the Plaintiff by the Merchant;
(b) reimburse the Merchant for any monies withheld, but not disbursed to the Plaintiff, if applicable;
(c) reactivate the Merchant’s storefront and financial accounts;
(d) permanently remove allegedly infringing products; and/or
(e) issue monetary fines against the Merchant for each allegedly infringing product listed on the Merchant’s storefront
- Merchants should carefully review their store’s product listings to ensure each product complies with Wish’s Merchant Terms of Service and applicable laws (including laws regarding the protection of intellectual property rights). Please be sure to review each product listing’s title, description, images, and all other product attributes to ensure that the product offered for sale is compliant with all applicable laws and is accurate, and disable any listings that are not compliant. Merchants can also learn more about determining whether a product infringes on intellectual property here, and can review guidelines on how to create legally compliant listings here.
Merchants may also consider consulting online resources or obtaining legal representation, such as link 1 and link 2.
For merchants who have been named as defendants in lawsuits related to alleged violations of plaintiff brands’ trademarks or copyrights, please note the following:
- You have legal rights to respond to such lawsuits, and an attorney may be able to help defend you. If you fail to defend yourself, the court might order Wish to transfer all money in your account to the plaintiff brand.
- We suggest that you hire an attorney to help you in this lawsuit. For example, an attorney might help you:
- determine if you are still able to operate your store and make sales that are unrelated to the products listed in the lawsuit and court order.
- try to reach a settlement with the brand so that Wish may then be allowed to transfer future funds to you.
If helpful, please see the following list of attorneys who have represented other merchants in similar lawsuits in the past:
Xingjian Zhao
DIAZ, REUS & TARG, LLP
100 Southeast Second Street
3400 Miami Tower
Miami, FL 33131
info@diasreus.com
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Mary-Lisa Sullivan
Danielle S. McKinley
ROBERTS MCGIVNEY ZAGOTTA LLC
305 N. Peoria Street
Suite 200
Chicago, IL 60607
mlsullivan@rmpartnerslaw.com
+1 (312) 251-2267
~~~~~
Depeng (Edward) Bi, 毕德朋律师
The Law Offices of Konrad Sherinian LLC
180 N. LaSalle St., Suite 3700
Chicago, Illinois 60601
+1 (630) 318-2606
ebi@sherinianlaw.net
https://sherinianlaw.net/naperville-chicago-attorneys/edward-bi/
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