Fake IP Complaint? US Government Listed as the Reporter!
I just received an IP Complaint under Complaint ID: 17151017921 for Copyrighted text on the product detail page on one of my top-selling ASIN, which has over 1,200 reviews. The complaint was supposedly filed by a US Air Force email contact, but something seems very suspicious:
a. The complaint was submitted on Super Bowl Sunday – Who in the heck from the government is working on a Sunday, let alone during the biggest game of the year? ( Amazon agent confirmed the date and time of reporting)
b. Amazon refuses to confirm if this was actually from a government entity or just another competitor abusing the system.
c. Chinese copycats are flooding the listing, yet only my US-based listing with 1,200+ reviews was targeted.
I strongly suspect this is a fake copyright claim by a competitor (likely from China) trying to take down my listing. Amazon won’t disclose whether the report was filed by a seller instead of an actual government entity.
If I file an appeal, will the appeal go to the email listed as the reporter, or does it go to the actual Amazon seller who reported it?
Has anyone dealt with a similar issue? What’s the best course of action to fight back against these fake IP complaints?
4 replies
Seller_i6S8knzW6zU6Z
Hi @Seller_eheLIUNWrYb4k,
Let me help clarify what happens with your counter-notice based on Amazon's help documentation.
According to Amazon's DMCA counter-notice procedure, when you submit a counter-notice, "our copyright agent will forward the information to the party who filed the complaint." This means your counter-notice will go to whoever submitted the original complaint using that government email address.
If you decide to submit a counter-notice, you'll need to include:
- Information about your removed ASIN
- A statement under penalty of perjury about your good-faith belief that there was a mistake
- Your contact details
- A jurisdiction consent statement
- Your electronic signature
You can find the complete requirements in the "Procedure for submitting a counter-notice" section of the help page I linked above.
I think it's also worth mentioning that Amazon has measures in place to prevent abuse of the reporting system. The Intellectual Property for Rights Owners help page states that "continuous submission of inaccurate or fake notices could lead to the removal of submission privileges."
I hope this helps explain the counter-notice process.
Best regards, Michael
