Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Amazon Seller Counter-Notice

Dear Rich: I am an Amazon seller and received a notice that I was infringing another seller’s rights and that my seller page had been taken down. I’m pretty sure this was a bogus strategy done by one of my competitors. I have rights to sell and post what I’m selling. My attempts at contacting Amazon have been useless because they just send the same email back. 
We're not sure whether the notice you received constitutes a DMCA takedown notice but to hedge your bets, we would suggest sending a DMCA counter notice to the seller performance team (even if you don't think it will do anything) and send a copy to copyright@amazon.com. At least you will have it on file with them in the event that this is part of a DMCA procedure. You must be sure of what you're claiming in the takedown notice because you're making this statement under penalty of perjury. You can read more about counter-notices, here.
If the counter-notice doesn't work ...  If that doesn’t work, and Amazon isn't responding in a meaningful way, you can try moving up the food chain and sending letters and emails to Amazon’s legal department (Amazon.com Legal Department, P.O. Box 81226, Seattle, WA 98108). If that doesn't get a response, you can file for arbitration under Amazon’s participation agreement.  This is a last resort, of course, and there are risks because if you lose and the arbitrator determines your claims are frivolous, you will have to pay Amazon's legal fees and costs resulting from arbitration.

Counter Notice 

Material that was removed: (describe Amazon advertising material taken down)
Location of where the material was located (URL): (list the URL for your Amazon seller page)

This letter is a formal response to a claim of rights infringement against material that I uploaded to Amazon. Please consider it as a DMCA counter notification as defined in 17 USC 512(g)(3).
I believe the claims of rights infringement are inaccurate and should be rejected for the following reasons: I either own all rights in the material posted or I have acquired permission from the rights holder. Further, I do not believe that the complainant has provided any credible claim of rights. All of my attempts to reach the complainant have been futile. In summary, any allegations of rights violation are unsupported.
I declare under penalty of perjury that I have a good faith belief that the complaint of rights infringement is either based on mistaken information or is an intentional misuse of the law (and violation of the Amazon Participation Agreement).
I ask that Amazon restore the material in dispute unless the complainant files suit against me within ten (10) days, pursuant to 17 USC(g)(2)(b). I further consent to the jurisdiction of federal district court for the judicial district in which I reside. I agree to accept service of process from the complainant.
Sincerely [Electronic of actual signature]
Full Name: (provide name)
Address: Phone Number: (provide address and phone number)

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