Intellectual Property Infringement

[4TheHue]

Good afternoon,

Question.  Has anyone encountered seeing the banner of Intellectual Property Infringement from a Toya Rivera but there is no email from Etsy and none of the listings get deactivated?

I keep seeing it and not sure what to do about it.  

I emailed Etsy about it but got a generic response with no clear understanding of the listing in question.  

Any advice would help. 

[NanaLetha]

Where are you seeing that?

[4TheHue]

When I go into my shop listings. 

[NanaLetha]

Where on the shop listings exactly?

[4TheHue]

I saw it on the page within my shop manager that shows all of my listings.  

[PlatypusDream]

Looking at your shop...

The complaint may certainly be quite real.

Companies, Sororities / Fraternities and Universities, hire lawyers to enforce their intellectual property rights.

Unless you have legal licensing to sell the items you are granting "commercial licenses" for, I would be very, very cautious. Talk to a lawyer.

[audreytherese]

No, but have you searched the USPTO about trademarks for 'HBCU'? There are a few live ones (with a registration number), and a whole bunch that are currently being applied for. You'll want to keep an eye on those, as you'll likely want to submit LOP's (letter of protests) when they open them up for opposition. 

If you need more information I highly recommend talking with an attorney that specializes in intellectual property. 

[moonbeamgifts]

I would deactivate all of your listings for the time being and start doing some research.    It took me a minute to realize you're using the school names in the invite as well as the color combos - the original entities aren't going to take kindly to that and once you're on a radar for one, if it escalates, you can lose your right to have any shop on Etsy.

I'd say to step back and protect yourself before you need a lawyer from one of those schools, especially since you have a listing option granting commercial use.    You can't offer that for something you don't own the rights to.

[4TheHue]

Thank you everybody for the feedback.  Definitely going to do a little research.  I was updating the listings for the invitations to not include the schools name, making them more of a custom option and I took the schools names out of the listings themselves but I didn’t think colors could be trademarked.  

Put my shop on vacation mode just so I can get myself together.  

Thank you again. 

[audreytherese]

Good call. 

Yes, colors in certain situations can be protected. 

Can I make an item that is orange and blue? Of course. But as soon as I add 'Syracuse' or 'Clemson' anywhere in the listing, it's not allowed. 

[moonbeamgifts]

>cough< "tiffany" <cough>

[BootifulLabels]

Colours most certainly can be TM'd.  A few that spring instantly to mind are Tiffany Blue, John Deere Green and Yellow, and Cadbury Purple.  They are usually confined to certain categories of items, but not always, and in any case, Etsy's filters are not so precisely programmed as to only look for items in specific categories.  Any use of the colours/combinations in listings are likely to be removed and referred up the line to a real person for a second opinion.  Moreover, the TM holders who police their IP, tend to take a "shoot first and ask questions later" approach, so if you do receive a formal notice of infringement, I would advise taking it very seriously and contact the IP owner to negotiate a solution. If you are not infringing, only the TM owner can instruct Etsy to reinstate. 

[BrooklynStVintage]

@4TheHue  If you are still reading this, check out this info

https://www.etsy.com/seller-handbook/article/22398703823?ref=handbook

[PlatypusDream]

A 2 second Google search showed this:

https://www.shoplhp.com/pages/collegiate-apparel-licensing

"If you've ever had an idea for a product that would showcase your HBCU, you'll need two things: collegiate licensing and a marketing plan. To produce anything featuring a collegiate trademark, you must acquire a license in order to use it. Without one, you'll be illegally manufacturing products that infringe upon a school, and we don't want that! To avoid legal troubles, the best plan of action is to first contact the school you'd like to include in your products. For the sake of this article, let's suppose you're going to contact Grambling State University about using their trademark logos in your new apparel line. You contact Grambling, specifically stating your licensure inquiry, and they point you to their licensing agent. Most institutions use licensing agents who handle all of their licensing and are responsible for interfacing with the colleges and respective licensees, retailers, and manufacturers. Grambling happens to use IMG College Licensing as their agent, as do many other colleges."

[4TheHue]

I’m aware of that part, which is why designs did not include the school name, only the school colors.  One of my goals is to get licensing from the appropriate agencies.  Outside of the invitations which I was updating the listings for, I didn’t think the colors were a problem.  I’m doing research to see maybe if it’s the slogan I’m using in my designs.  

[TreeTreasuresCanada]

@4TheHue  Back to your original post.  Toya Rivera has a trademark for "lightly melanated".  If you were using those words, be sure to delete.

[After9Marbles]

Careful of those smiley faces as well. They do a good job of issuing take down notices and file lawsuits. They do sue people if you google it. Probably want to talk to a lawyer if they are involved in your issue.