What is the impact of receiving TRO on Amazon sellers? How should they respond?

Impact of TRO on Amazon sellers and how to respond?

In recent years, major law firms have been launching crazy attacks and reaping huge profits! Many seller friends have received Temporary Restraining Orders (TRO) from federal courts. Ma Mai has also recently received inquiries about TRO:

What is TRO? I woke up in the morning and my funds were frozen, and my store was closed!

There is nothing wrong with the title I used, why did I receive a TRO?

What should I do after receiving a TRO? Should I respond?

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This TRO that troubles many sellers, what exactly is it? What impact does it have on sellers? How can you avoid receiving a TRO? What can sellers do once they receive it?

We suggest that you bookmark this article, read it repeatedly, and ensure that you do not touch any “minefields.”

“Gold Medal Order” granted by law

What is TRO?

TRO stands for “Temporary Restraining Order”, which is commonly known as a lawyer’s letter. It is a temporary relief restraining order issued by the court in the United States. TRO gives the plaintiff the right to use various timely and convenient methods to protect their intellectual property rights, and to quickly stop the alleged infringing behavior and freeze the assets of the alleged infringer.

A typical TRO not only orders the alleged infringer (defendant) to stop the alleged infringement, but also requires third-party service providers and financial institutions that receive the notification to cooperate in stopping their services to the defendant, and provide the plaintiff with relevant documents related to the plaintiff’s claim, such as the defendant’s contact information, bank account records, and sales records.

What impact does receiving a TRO have on Amazon sellers?

If the seller does not settle or respond, not only will the funds not be released, but after the case is absent, all the money in the account will be taken away.

How should you respond after receiving a TRO?

After receiving a TRO, sellers should not blindly follow or trust unverified online rumors, and should not try to handle it coldly. Some courts may consider that the defendant has not responded to the court order and has not attended the trial, which is a self-acknowledgement of guilt, and directly increases the judgment result and compensates for higher damages, making things more uncontrollable.

The correct approach is to seek legal advice from a lawyer who is familiar with the applicable laws in the jurisdiction where the TRO is located, and actively respond to and resolve the issue.

Emergency account handling plan

Sellers generally receive lawyer letters or emails in their mailbox, or receive emails forwarded by the platform notifying them of intellectual property infringement complaints about their store.

After receiving the email, the seller should first screen out the brands, products, and other issues that the other party accuses according to the content of the email, whether they belong to the products sold on your store, and whether they infringe on intellectual property rights. If they are confirmed to infringe, they should be immediately removed and the infringement links deleted.

After ruling out the possibility that the letter is a malicious complaint, the seller should then check the sales data of the product in their own store, fully grasp the data, and then proceed with a settlement or defense.

“Close the door” within the platform to eliminate hidden dangers

There are countless infringement cases every year. When a TRO is issued, things become “big.” Mai Mai recommends the best way to avoid lightning strikes is to “nip the risk in the bud” and eliminate hidden dangers one by one under the supervision of the platform.

If you only receive infringement complaints and penalties within the platform, you can appeal through the appeal portal provided in the punishment notice. The platform’s intellectual property rules can be found on the platform.

Many times sellers do not even know how they have infringed, so it is recommended to check for infringement risks before applying for trademarks and patents or selling products (Maidetong trademark intelligent query).

Finally, Maidie reminds you that settling an infringement is not just responding to the plaintiff’s demands, but also mainly to protect your own rights. Professional legal teams will not blindly follow unreasonable demands from plaintiffs, so when choosing a lawyer, do not be attracted by low prices and choose a law firm rationally.

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