Concerns Over Hyperice's Alleged Misuse of Patent Rights and Amazon's Handling of Patent Infringement Claims
Dear Amazon Seller Community,
I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to express my concerns regarding the recent experiences of being targeted by Hyperice, a company known for its sports recovery and performance products, with patent infringement claims that I believe are unfounded and possibly designed to extort settlements from small sellers.
Specifically, Hyperice has been sending patent infringement notices to sellers, including myself, for products that do not conflict with their offerings nor infringe upon their patents. Despite my attempts to engage constructively, I reached out to their Intellectual Property Director requesting details of the alleged infringement, but received no substantive response. Instead, Hyperice demanded a settlement fee of $5,000 USD, which I find exorbitant and unethical, akin to extortion.
Furthermore, I am deeply concerned about Amazon's handling of these patent infringement claims. The review process seems to lack thoroughness, as Amazon often fails to adequately assess the relevance of the patents to the products in question. This inaction, coupled with the apparent willingness to side with larger companies like Hyperice, creates an environment where small sellers feel bullied and overwhelmed.
It is crucial for Amazon to maintain a fair and transparent process for addressing patent infringement claims. The current system appears to favor larger companies, enabling them to leverage their patents to disrupt the business of smaller sellers without proper scrutiny. This not only stifles competition but also undermines the trust and fairness that should underpin Amazon's marketplace.
I urge Amazon to review and improve its patent infringement complaint process to ensure it is fair, impartial, and protective of all sellers, regardless of their size. We need a system that encourages innovation and supports small businesses, not one that aids in the bullying and extortion of sellers by larger companies.
I invite other sellers who have faced similar experiences to share their stories and join me in advocating for change. Together, we can work to create a more equitable and supportive environment for all Amazon sellers.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. I look forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences.
3 replies
Seller_CW0P5hgbsiqWX
That is a common story on Amazon. Sadly, this is a bad time of the year for it to happen. During Novenber and December, Amazon cust way bak on ersolving these problems. Nothing against you, it is just that Amazon does not want any changes to the catalog at this time.
Seller_3LdIEYch4wHzP
I THOROUGHLY SECOND THIS!
This has happened with one of my products as well by HyperIce. I reached out to them and they don't provide any proof or analysis of infringement. They just stick to "we are confident" phrase, which is a bullying tactic and ask for $5000 dollars and licensing agreement with royalties.
They issues the claims exactly during black friday week to hurt sellers the most and create pressure situations where small companies will fold. They cost me a lot in terms of lost sales.
They are abusing amazon's IP review process, as they won't accept anything that isn't a legal response from a 3rd party or court order -- both of which are costly.
The hyperice folks are actually tied up with a group of lawyers who act as patent trolls. I know this because i reached out the actual owner of the patent, because it wasnt hyperice, hyperice was a global licensee to see if they knew something about the patent in terms of how it applied to my product... but it quickly came to the same type of cagey conversation where they wouldnt say anything other than "lets do a deal", "pay money", "we want to do deals", "we are confident the claims are valid" without any actual explanation or thought that we could understand how we infringed with our fairly generic product.
I did not do a deal and agree to extortion... but my listing still isn't active because I can't afford to fight a big IP legal battle on what is already a fairly low margin product, especially against an opposing team of IP lawyers on the other side. It's prohibitively costly for any business that doesnt have IP Lawyers inhouse with nothing better to do.
FYI -- Anyone who actually opens the patent doc (not reads the google doc summary) will see that it is a very broad patent that has no relevance to my product or category. Amazon won't provide the specific claims that our product infringed upon, won't accept any thoughtful response from me, and will only accept appeals from a lawyer or a court.
It's a system that is supporting extortion oriented patent trolls and its very frustrating.
Seller_auL7MuxCpxI16
I've encountered the same thing, recently received an IP infringement claim from Hyperice. When I looked at their patent its very generic and vague.
I agree that they are trying to bully and extort other sellers. I received the same message that " We are confident you are infringing on our product" and an offer to pay $5000 upfront with a licensing fee..
It really sucks nowadays being a seller on Amazon because they give all the power to these brands that file IP complaints and will shut down your products immediately without question. As an Amazon seller you really are guilty until proven otherwise, which is NOT how the law should work, and the appeal process on Amazon is a nightmare because what they usually ask for is almost impossible to get without substantial financial losses. They have no regards for common sense or any sort of reasoning and will keep giving you the same template response.
And this is just one of many unfair situations I'm facing.. After 8 years selling on Amazon I can say the past year alone I've faced more problems with all the Amazon bs compared to the first several years. I'm ready to leave this platform and move on.. it truly boggles my mind how unfairly sellers continue to be treated and why nothing is being done about it.
Anyways, if anyone has more details on how Hyperice is extorting sellers with false IP accusations, please reach out to me.
