How do I use Etsy's intellectual property portal?

[DownToTheWireDesigns]

I have an Etsy seller from India copying my work.  They stole my photos and then listed my items in their shop.  I came across this listing and contacted the seller telling them to remove it.  They tried to stall but then did take the listing down.  Now they have basically copied my design (one that I developed and have been selling for about ten years now) and are selling it in their shop with their own photos.  I have the URL of the listing, but cannot seem to use that on the intellectual property report portal.  I tried doing a search, and even though the other seller has also copied my item description word for word, all I get from the search are my own items.  It is very frustrating to know the name of the seller stealing my design and have a link to the actual piece being copied but not be able to report it except through a search that is not yielding the right results.

Etsy, can you update the IP portal to allow using URLs in the reports?  Also, what is the policy for a seller stealing someone's photos to sell copies of their work?  I think this should be a three-strikes offense as it is blatant stealing of one's IP and it undervalues the original seller's work.  I have great reviews of my work; this other seller, who appears to be copying the work and photos of others as well, has a very mediocre rating with several buyers commenting that the piece they received "looked nothing like the photos in the listing".  Allowing this to go on helps no one and hurts Etsy's reputation overall.

[CryzalisDesigns]

Etsy does not seem to have much interest removing those that copy listings word for word including using the stolen images from other Esty sellers, despite them defrauding customers.

I would contact the seller, inform them you have taken screen shots of all the stolen images and descriptions and they have 24hrs to remove them before all correspondence will be sent to a lawyer to start proceedings to have their shop closed due to counterfeit

[DownToTheWireDesigns]

Because the other seller is in India, I don't think they will fear the idea of a lawsuit. 

I was encouraged to see that Etsy has an intellectual property report portal, but it's set up in the worst way possible.  The irony is that Etsy sent me the photo of my copied piece in one of their marketing emails.  I suspected right away it was the same seller I had contacted earlier and it was.  So I have a link to the item, I know the name of the shop, but neither work in the portal, which seems to rely on a blanket search of Etsy as a whole using keywords.  Not at all helpful.

My item is great quality and has great reviews.  It is one of my best selling pieces.  People seeing it in search with this other seller's listing might assume that they are the same or that we are both resellers buying from a wholesaler somewhere.  I know that Etsy just wants A SALE but this kind of race to the bottom in terms of price and quality will not bode well for the website overall.

[DownToTheWireDesigns]

Update: I was able to find a way to contact Etsy's customer service-- it's buried behind a menu of things that were not applicable to my concern but when I followed one branch all the way to the end it gave me an option of a live-chat or a phone call.  I did the former and was able to provide links of my work and the listing of the copy of my work.  The rep that I talked to insisted that they take this very seriously-- hopefully they really do-- and they will look into it and get back to me.  I have to wonder how many people are actually able to contact them because it's not the least bit obvious from their support page, so maybe they do take it seriously but the inaccessibility of contacting suggests that they don't?  I am hoping that is the case.  I'll update this after it's resolved one way or the other.

[Amaradorn]

Stolen design but using their own photos - I don't think you can do anything about this unless you have registered the design (design patent) but I'm not sure how that works for countries outside your own.

Stolen photos and description (just be exactly the same) - I was of the understanding that this could be reported as copyright infringement using the reporting portal. However I've never used it. Maybe they need to update it so that the search function includes the descriptions. It might be worth trying(!) to contact support. Is there nowhere to enter the url of the offending listing anywhere?

It might be worth contacting some of the other shops who have been copied (basically team up) and getting joint legal advice - then all submit claims at the same time or forget the whole reporting portal route and just go straight to a cease and desist letter. I don't really know how it works though especially if they are in another country which is why you need to get legal advice from an IP lawyer. 

[Amaradorn]

P.s. I think the 'Reporting Portal' was set up mainly to report trademark infringements. You might just have to file a DMCA the old fashioned way by contacting Etsy directly (but again, I'm not sure how you do that - probably a question for a lawyer).

[DownToTheWireDesigns]

They definitely stole my design and the fact that they were previously using my photos to sell their copies should hopefully be enough to prove this though who knows.

I would love to contact support but there is no way to do it. If you click the 'contact support' button it takes you to an automated menu where intellectual property is not addressed.  There are no email addresses to actually 'contact support' anywhere.  Ironically, at the bottom of that page it says: Keep Commerce Human.  So I can't enter a URL on the report page; I can't search by shop name.  It's just an overall search of the Etsy website as a whole that will not show me the one listing I am looking for (and have!) no matter what I enter as search terms, including the verbatim title of the listing.

I did contact another shop in New Jersey whose work is also being copied but I'm not sure whether they did anything about it apart from thanking me for bringing it to their attention.  The copying seller's shop is a hodgepodge of photo and jewelry styles which suggests that few if any are original designs.

I do think I will contact a lawyer though and see what can be done.

[Amaradorn]

I found this video on YouTube which shows where you enter the url of the infringing listing: https://youtu.be/pppUX5q4C1M

I hope it helps.

P.s. I believe you can report sold listings so even if they changed out the photos the old/sold listing can be reported.

[DownToTheWireDesigns]

So I was able to find a way to contact Etsy's customer service-- I guess I was wrong about that!-- it's buried behind a menu of things that were not applicable to my concern but when I followed one branch all the way to the end it gave me an option of a live-chat or a phone call.  I did the live-chat and was able to provide links of my work and the listing of the copy of my work.  The rep that I talked to insisted that they take this very seriously-- hopefully they really do-- and they will look into it and get back to me.  I have to wonder how many people are actually able to contact them because it's not the least bit obvious from their support page, so maybe they do take it seriously but the inaccessibility of contacting suggests that they don't?  I am hoping that is the case.  I'll update this after it's resolved one way or the other.

[CryzalisDesigns]

They might not fear the idea of a lawsuit but they will fear having one of their many shops closed down on Etsy and their payments held.

Also why does it not surprise me they promoted a shop stealing other peoples products, photos and listings in one of Etsy's marketing emails

[DownToTheWireDesigns]

I think this is more a result of Etsy's poor search. I bought an embosser two years ago and about three times a week I get a marketing email from Etsy suggesting other embossers I might be interested in... as if I collect them!  They also regularly show me my own items.  I have no idea why they do that.  I do look at my listings a lot to make changes, update quantities, etc., but in these marketing emails they will show me my own listings when they go on sale! (Maybe if I buy them on sale then resell them at full price I can Milo Minderbinder my way to a hefty profit?!)  So I think that the copy being included in this particular email is probably either because it is so similar to my own work or because I have looked through that seller's shop previously when I was looking at the copies of my listing in their shop.

[CryzalisDesigns]

Etsy has a call back service which works mostly for sellers in the United States

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?segment=selling&fbclid=IwAR3XJULkao3ZPR8XcOEf2A7143n87Xt...

There is also a live chat function in your dashboard which goes live every day about 14:00 CET with no waiting times, it is the little black box bottom right of your screen with 3 white dots in it 

[DownToTheWireDesigns]

Thanks-- I did find that.  It's not at all obvious where to locate that link in the contact support page.  You have to go through this long menu, with each option containing submenus, and none of them related to the thing I was trying to report, so I never followed one through to the end the first time I tried this page.