COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT BY SELLER ON AMAZON PROBLEM

DMCA SENT, TWO WEEKS LATER ITEMS STILL UP FOR SALE

MY STOLEN IMAGE


In a matter of hours it will be TWO WEEKS, 14 days, since I sent the first DMCA notice to Amazon notifying them a seller on their platform is selling multiple items which infringe on my copyright. Amazon has never taken this long to resolve an infringement report I’ve filed before.

I received their auto response stating:
“Hello,
We received your email. Amazon respects the intellectual property rights of others. After we process your notice, we will notify you by email. This usually takes 1 to 2 days.” So the notice WAS received by them.

Amazon has now been notified of this issue multiple times. As of June 8th all seven listings I included in my DMCA notice are STILL up.

My first notice was sent to them on May 25, 2019. On the same day I received the automated response.

On May 31, 2019, I sent a followup email, which included two additional infringements by the same seller. Again, I received their automated response.

On June 1, 2019, I had to contact Amazon Customer Service (via chat) about another issue and brought this up as well. The rep took all the info and said it would be given to the appropriate departments to see what was going on and I’d hear from them. I have not, as of June 8.

I also asked for an actual email address to communicate with Amazon. The rep sent me an email and stated – verbally and in the email – to reply to that email. On June 2, 2019, I responded to it with a summary of what we had discussed. I have had no further response as of June 8, 2019.

On June 5th I Tweeted the following: “Trying to get these copyright infringing counterfeits removed from Amazon for 11 days now. <> @amazon @jeffbezos #amazon #copyrightinfringement #counterfeits #copyrightviolation”

I also responded on the sellers page in the box that asks how they can improve that a big improvement would be to remove the items that seller was offering for sale as per my DMCA request.

I’ve also tried to leave a review with the pic of my stolen image to warn potential buyers which they refused to post. I believe I attempted to do this on May 30th. I said:
“DON’T buy
I am the artist who created this truck drawing. It is being used on these products without my permission and Amazon has been sent a DMCA notice to remove the items.”

A copy of the email I sent on June 5th to [email protected] and [email protected] is at the bottom of this post.

Seriously Amazon? Is this the best a company so large and well known can do when it comes to dealing with shady sellers? Is this the best you can do? If there are so many infringement reports things are backlogged to this point, maybe that should tell you there is a serious problem? WHY the delay in processing my DMCA complaint, or is it even BEING processed?

Adding insult to injury is the fact I received an email from Amazon advertising an an item being sold by this seller/brand. Wow, just wow.

I have documentation of everything, including screenshots. I intend to forward this information to my Representatives as an example of why companies and ISP’s need to be held more accountable for this kind of thing. Thieves are going to steal, but I expect those who have control of what those thieves post to be more responsible about removing stolen images.

Designers / artists fight a never-ending battle with copyright infringement. Although THIS particular headache is in Amazon’s lap, Amazon is not the only player when it comes to infringements of our work.

I’ve removed some details due to privacy issues, but the contact information provided at multiple places on this website is accurate.

MY LAST LETTER TO AMAZON


“I am contacting you because I have sent multiple DMCA notices to Amazon which are not being resolved. I have received email acknowledgements that two of the reports were received and that I would be contacted after they investigated, “usually 1-2 days”, but nothing else. As of June 6, 2019, 10:00 am EST, over eleven days later, the items are still for sale through Amazon as of 10am June 6th.

My first DMCA was sent on May 25th. The second – which was noted as a followup and included two addition items, was sent on May 31st.

The above two DMCA’s were sent from an email I generally use for reporting infringements to Amazon, <>

On June 1st I had to contact Amazon about an issue with shipping of an item I had ordered. I used chat and ‘spoke’ with a very nice representative named <> who seemed to try hard to help me. During the chat I explained that I was very unhappy with Amazon because of not just the shipping but the failure to remove/deal with my DMCA notices as well. The rep took that information as well, and stated they would forward it to the proper departments and they would contact me.

I asked for an actual email address I could use to communicate with Amazon. <> sent me an email and told me to reply to that. This was sent to my Amazon account email, <> I replied to that email, summarizing our conversation on June 2nd but have not received any response.

Here is a list of the ASIN numbers that are infringing.
<>
And here are just a few samples of this design on products for sale in my Zazzle store:
<>

My design was unloaded and used on Zazzle years before someone helped themselves to them and used them on counterfeit products they are selling through Amazon. I also own the truck the design is based on and have the actual photographs used.

The “brands” listed for these infringing products are Aikul and Albitt. I have found two sellers using these designs, Bellm and 3DR00SE. Please note that 3DR00SE does not use the letter “O” in their name – those are numbers. Looking at the prices and shipping times, I suspect these sellers may be located in China.

I’ve also tweeted these ASIN numbers @amazon and @jeffbezos on June 5th.

There appears to be a bad problem with infringing images on Amazon. As designers try to get their own images removed, we often find “stores” with obviously infringing designs. Obviously we can only report our own, but to be blunt, Amazon needs to come up with a method to allow people to report suspicious stores/brands to help alleviate this issue.

Please review this situation. I look to hear from you as soon as possible. It should not take this long to remove infringing images when the proper DMCA notices are filed. Thank you for your time.”
<>

7 Comments

  1. UPDATE 6/11/19
    Prior to emailing Amazon DMCA notices starting on 5-25 including multiple infrigements, I had reported ONE infringing ASIN via their web form. This notice submitted from my Amazon account email on 5-24

    They DID respond to that ONE product, saying they were unable to verify that I was the copyright holder, telling me to resubmitt via the form giving them more info, to include a verification code they gave me, etc.

    Their response to the web form submission went unnoticed because I’d done all further communications as explained in the following paragraph. (This is why I usually don’t use their web form – too often I get this response, plus, email consolidates communications, making it easier to keep up with what has been resolved.)

    After finding multiple more infringments of the image the following day, 5-25, I sent a dmca via email FROM A TOTALLY DIFFERENT EMAIL ADDRESS – one I use specifically for infringement issues. THAT email is the one I received automated responses on, advising me they had received my complaint.

    In the email(s) I gave them all the ‘new’ ASIN numbers but I also included the original ASIN that had been reported via their web form, stating it had already been reported via their web form.

    IMO, all the ‘new’ products I reported should have been considered separately from the initial web form complaint, since the email DMCA included all required info to file a report, but I’m wondering if they have not resolved due to the inclusion of the web form submitted solo product complaint…..

    If this is the case, it’s ridiculous. All but the web form submitted should be considered a separate complaint. I suppose I should have just not bothered to tell them about the first one, but I was trying to do what I thought was right to do.

    So. this morning I have resubmitted my DMCA notice via email. I have included the ‘verification’ and ‘complaint’ numbers associated with the first one which was previously submitted via web form. I included screenshot documentation of when I first uploaded the image to my POD, which was back in 2013. I have received the auto response, so we shall see.

    The last email includes new ASIN product numbers, one which was listed by another store on June 10th. The infringement nightmare never stops.

  2. ANOTHER UPDATE: June 14, 2014

    Well! This fiasco just keeps getting better and better. As I stated in my June 11th update post, I resubmitted EVERYTHING – the “verification number” Amazon said I had to include or my report would be ignored, the case number that was on the same email from them that requested the “verification number”, everything that is required to file a VALID DMCA REQUEST.

    This morning I get this reply…. which has absolultely NOTHING to do with my DMCA notification to Amazon.
    “Hello,

    We understand that you may have some questions about selling on Amazon. To contact our Seller Support Team, click the “Get Support” hyperlink at the bottom of the page, and select the option that better describes your inquiry.

    We look forward to hearing from you soon,

    Seller Identity Verification
    Amazon Seller Support
    =======================================
    Have you seen our Seller Support Blog? For strategies and best practices for selling on Amazon, visit http://www.amazonsellersupportblog.com/
    For additional help, visit http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=1161232

    To contact us again about this issue, please use the Contact Us form in Seller Central using the following link:

    https://sellercentral.amazon.com/cu/case-dashboard/view-case?caseID=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    Please note: this e-mail was sent from a notification-only address that cannot accept incoming e-mail. Please do not reply to this message.

    SERIOUSLY??????? I don’t sell on Amazon. I do not WANT to sell on Amazon. What I want is for Amazon to remove the products someone is selling on Amazon that infringe on my rights!

  3. Update 4:59 pm June 14th

    Since the above response from Amazon obviously does not address the issue of copyright infringements against me, I just now issued yet ANOTHER DMCA Takedown Notice. I’ve lost count how many attempts I have made to get the infringing products removed.

  4. It’s 9:57 AM EST and products infringing on my copyright are still listed for sale on Amazon. It’s been over THREE WEEKS since I first started sendind DMCA notices to Amazon. Wonder if the thieving sellers are making any money off of MY WORK. #amazon #copyrightinfringement #amazonhelp

     Sun 6-16 Amazon search results screenshot

  5. UPDATE 6-17
    FINALLY, I received an email from Amazon advising me that per the info I provided the copyright infringing images were removed! Nice news to start off a new week. Thank you Amazon.
    From the email I think the initial issue started because of the ONE product I reported using their web form. I don’t know what that had to do with the rest of the products reported as I reported those by emails. I think I need to stay away from their web from and stick to reporting by email. #amazon #copyrightinfringement #amazonhelp

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