Etsy shop suspended- US Law Office

[Magstill82]

Hello, I'm new here and first I want to say this forum is an amazing source of information. I'm grateful to be able to ask for advice here.
My Etsy shop has been suspended. I sell shoe charms among other items, for shoes like clogs, that are known to have little holes where you can put a charm to decorate them.

The only information I have from Etsy as to why my shop was closed is(email): "Etsy received legal process seeking information, records, or other action regarding your account. If you have questions about the legal process, you should consult an attorney or contact the attorney who issued the subpoena. For information regarding this case and for a copy of the legal process, please contact the attorney directly. We are unable to reinstate your account until the attorney in question has sent us a formal request to do so. Thank you for your attention to this"

They refuse to answer to give any additional information about this matter. I'm based in the UK, the case is in the US.

I searched the case number, which led me to PacerMotior . Before the suspension of my shop, I had not received any notices of infringement, or any other communication regarding this case. Most documents from this case are sealed but I was able to access some,

I was unaware that the product is infringing on someone's copyright. I've had no idea the product was created using this artist's artwork. I buy ready made pvc shoe charms, components that I assemble myself to make into shoe charms, as well charms made by myself completely from scratch (including design) that can be personalised. I buy supplies directly from manufacturers in China, through sites like Alibaba or PandaHall. I know exactly from which manufacturer the product in question was bought by me. I don't know if this information could help me in any way.

I completely appreciate the importance of safeguarding intellectual property. I fully understand the frustration that arises when one’s creative work is used or copied without permission. I experience it continuously, having my artwork (from my other, digital art shop) stolen by sites like Temu, Aliexpress, and even sellers on Amazon.

What I can't understand is how a court in the US, is by law allowed to grant a temporary restraining order, giving the attorney power to freeze the UK based shop completely, without any warning. (all 240 listings deactivated). All the SEO, hard work that has been put into ranking on first pages in the search results, and good listings rankings, all is gone as the shop is continuing to be shut.

I do not take part in any illegal operation/network or a group of infringers or conspirators. I'm just a self-employed shop owner, making a living by selling on Etsy, eBay, and a stand-alone website.

I did not contact the attorney in question. I'm wondering about finding a lawyer in the US but first I would love some input from this forum, please. Without my research, I wouldn't know anything about this case apart from the fact that there is some kind of legal process against me. Not being able to sell on Etsy would make a great impact on my life since my shops are a main income for me so I very much would like to get my account back.

I believe it is worth mentioning that I do not offer worldwide shipping in my Etsy store or eBay store anymore, since the beginning of August 2024 due to many orders being returned as unclaimed, but I did in the past.

Having my shop suspended due to it being involved in copyright infringement legal process is a base for Etsy to ban me from their site completely. Which is just a matter of time, since their Policies state it clearly. This would mean my other shops (I have two with digital products)which have nothing to do with this claim, would also be affected and shut down, the income is not great but it is still a fair amount and a good way to earn an extra passive income. This would leave me with no income whatsoever(Ebay shop is pocket money compared to my other shops on Etsy)
How are they allowed to do that?

[AndyJ]

Hi Magstill and welcome to the forums,

Unfortunately there is very little I can add to what has already been said on this and the related threads. In your case the issue seems to be concerned with copyright rather than trade marks, and based on what you have told us, it's hard to see that there is a genuine case of infringement here. But as you have probably guessed the way this sort of operation works is that the legal firm in the US pump out a lot of boilerplate legal jargon, while providing absolutely no concrete evidence of the actual infringement which they allege. They don't need to. The purpose of filing the complaint is to get the initial court filing reference which they can then quote to Etsy (which is a US company by the way, so that's why they have to comply with the court documents) and get your account closed down. In fact, all Etsy need to do to comply with the law is delist the items which are alleged to infringe the Frog artwork. The lawyers then rely on the account owners paying up to get their shops reinstated and avoid the threat of further legal action. As you are probably aware all the co-defendants are likely to be based outside the USA and so are unlikely to be able to defend the claims made against them. This means that the law firm can go to court and make all these wild allegations, knowing that no-one will refute them.

You have very little to fear about any further legal action in the USA because it is highly unlikely, firstly, that this will occur, and secondly, even if it does, that the law firm will want to incur additional costs trying to enforce a judgment in the UK. And lastly under UK law you would only be liable for secondary infringement (that is to say dealing in infringing goods (see section 23 CDPA) which means that damages cannot be claimed against you unless the claimant can prove that you knew the goods infringed copyright.

However there is no easy route to getting your Etsy shop reinstated, assuming that you are unwilling to pay the extortionate amount being demanded by this law firm.

I'm sorry that I can't provide specific advice on your particular case, firstly because I am not your lawyer, and secondly because I am not qualified in American law.

[Magstill82]

Thank you AndyJ for your response. I'm still considering my options. I've contacted this Law Office. I don't think have been properly served.
Thy responded with an offer of a few thousand dollars.

They only attached a screenshot of this product from my shop and a screenshot of said product in the shopping cart -you can the option to ship to the US.

This is all I have from them, I haven't been given a copy of the complaint filed in US court, and no other court documents. Could the email from Etsy informing me of the legal process count as 'being served'?

I'm thinking about filing an answer to the complaint directly to the court. I'm just not sure if I should file it now since I might not have been officially served. If this is the case, I could use this fact among others to argue a lower settlement with the Law Office or/and file in court to be dismissed.

But then if I let them know that I'm aware of not being served correctly, they can then serve me and that's taking away one of my arguments if I wanted to use it when filing directly to the court. I haven't responded to their email yet. Still weighing my options.

[AndyJ]

As I mentioned earlier, I can't provide you with any advice on how to conduct your litigation. However I can make a couple of comments about the law in general.

Firstly receiving a link to a website containg some documents, via Etsy, does not constitute sevice on you of the court papers.

Secondly there appears to to have been no specific information that the law firm's client is the actual owner of any copyright in the material which is dispute, and more to the point, whether the copyright has been registered witht the US Copyright Office. If it hasn't then any actual proceedings before the Illinois court will fail. As I mentioned earlier, this is largely hypothetical since I do not believe their intention is to take the matter to trial.

And lastly, if you do respond to the court, you must also send a copy of your response to the legal firm, and in doing so you are a) effectively acknowledging service, and b) submitting yourself to the jurisdiction of the court. This is not advisible, since it is in your best interests to contest the Illinois Court's jurisdiction over you. This is particularly so because no evidence has been shown that you made any sale within the territory (in this case the US 7th Federal District) or that the copyright owner has a business presence within the 7th District. To be honest with you I would not spend time worrying about the ludicrous claims concerning the so-called activitties of the defendants in general. This is largey lthere as window dressing to conceal tha fact that this is, at heart, a straight forward speculative invoicing operation.

[genghis]

Hi Magstill,

Any updates to your situation? I've also received a TRO as part of this case, mine via Amazon as a US seller. Similarly, I've sold a handful of the products and they're proposing settlement amount in the thousands. I'm likewise weighing my options.

Also, can you provide a link to the case file where it has all the language re: the illegal network of operators? I wasn't able to find this in my googling.

[Magstill82]

Hi Genghis,

I'm weighing my options between trying to reason with them on my own for a lower settlement or hiring a lawyer here in the UK to help me negotiate with them. I want to keep my ability to sell on Etsy, it has been a source of income for the past 6 years, so getting my shop back is my only priority.

Thanks to AndyJ and his last reply, I can see that contacting the court directly wouldn't be a good choice for me. You can find the case on PacerMonitor.com, by searching by case number. You will need to register a free account to be able to see the full docket. The documents that aren't sealed can be viewed but you will need to buy credits to pay for them, I think I paid 5$ for each PDF.

[Magstill82]

Has anyone here had any positive outcome with negotiating directly with the Law Office? Any pointers? Or could recommend a lawyer here in the UK who helped with getting an acceptable settlement amount?

[Magstill82]

I would like to share an update on the case, the Lawyer's Office accepted my lower offer. I've let them know I'm aware of my rights when it comes to enforcing a US judgment in England. I included the following details :a few units of the item sold, amounting to net sales of under £30, with zero sales from the UK to the USA and none to the state of Illinois, the fact that I had no knowledge or reason to believe that the item in question infringed anyone's rights. I proposed a settlement that accurately reflects the actual impact of the damages.

They got back to me with the settlement agreement to sign. The only thing that holds me back before returning the signed agreement is they asked for a copy of my business license and National ID Card. So I'm not sure if they are looking to get more details from me (not sure how much Etsy shared with them) or is this a standard procedure to confirm indentity to complete the agreement.

I'm curious if anyone signed a similar agreement ?

[Tulipss32]

Hi I’m part of this law suit aswell did you settle with the lawyer? And did Etsy pay the lawyer directly, I’ve agreed an amount and they said the amount will come from my Etsy account but I only have £0.85 in there so just wondering will Etsy pay them and then I settle the payment with Etsy?
If anyone knows the answers please let me know

[sharpie543]

Hello,

I'm in the US and received an email with this summons. I hired an intellectual property lawyer and they said I can contact the plaintiff's attorney for settlement. Or I can hire them and they will work it out for me. I have less than a handful and it was my personal belonging. How much did they settle you for?

[kittens589]

Hello, I'm new here as well and I just wanted to say that I'm thankful in regards to the information found on these forums, it's helped me calm down for a bit

Apologies for barging in on someone else's post like this but I felt like it'd be the better choice over making a new topic since my case is also related to my store being suspended.

I must apologize in advance however, since the firm that sued me is TME Law, which I've seen has a precendent of tracking posts from defendants over here, I am going to be very vague on details, mostly so that they won't be able to pinpoint me down to further pressure me.
In any case, while I had tried negotiating with them before, it ended up going nowhere, and thus with the time going on I've ended up defaulting due to having no funds for a lawyer and the firm not budging despite proving that I've had not been making a profit for months.

At this point honestly I couldn't care less about my store, nor my financial account for that matter, I have my doubts whether or not they'll release the temporary restraining order at all, maybe they'll have to eventually, or maybe it's going to stay this way for a much longer time.

However, I still do have a certain concern that is preventing me from cutting my losses and move on...

You have very little to fear about any further legal action in the USA because it is highly unlikely, firstly, that this will occur, and secondly, even if it does, that the law firm will want to incur additional costs trying to enforce a judgment in the UK.

While this has helped me ease my nerves for a while, since I'm not from the US (nor the UK for that matter). The reality of my situation is that besides having a store that sold merch, I also do freelance work related to graphic design, and with my current account which I used for invoicing clients having a TRO on it, I have not been able to get any work done.
I was thinking of opening another account, however my main concern comes from whether or not that firm would be able to place yet another TRO on the new account.

My first instinct tells me no, since this new account would have not been related to any incident regarding copyright infringement, but I guess they could come up with some kind of excuse to still be able to do so since it'll still be related to me.

However, checking on the document attached to the default order there was a paragraph that said the following:

In the event that **** identifies any additional online marketplace accounts or financial accounts owned by Defaulting Defendants, **** may send notice of any supplemental proceeding, including a citation to discover assets, to Defaulting Defendants by e-mail at the e-mail addresses identified in Exhibit 2 to the Declaration of Paul Varleyand any e-mail addresses provided for Defaulting Defendants by third parties

While I've been reading many sites which corroborate that further litigation is very unlikely to happen, would that still apply in this situation? I just want to clarify all of my doubts before taking a course of action, but I do feel like contacting the firm once again will end up being pointless. In any case, I appreciate any kind of input for this situation, thank you in advance.