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Intellectual Property PolicyUpdated 2 months ago

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind, such as inventions; literary and artistic works; designs; and symbols, names and images used in commerce.

Owners of IP have IP Rights:

  • Any patent, copyright, trademark, domain name, moral right, trade secret right, or any other intellectual property right arising under any international, federal, state, and local law, ordinance, rule, regulation, order, license, permit, judgment, decision, or other requirement, now or in the future in effect, of any governmental authority (ex. on a federal, state, or provincial level, as applicable) of competent jurisdiction (collectively, "Laws") and all ancillary and related rights, including all rights of registration and renewal and causes of action for violation, misappropriation or infringement of any of the previously mentioned rights (collectively, "IP Rights").

When you sell on Amplife®:

  • You must comply with all Laws and Program Policies.
  • You must not violate the IP Rights of vendors or other rights owners.

Violating this policy can result in suspension and/or termination of your Amplife® account and other legal consequences.

Important: This policy is not legal advice. You should consult with an attorney if you have questions about your IP Rights or the IP Rights of others.

Intellectual Property for Rights Owners

Amplife® is dedicated to ensuring that listings do not violate or infringe a rights owner's IP.

Main types of IP

Trademark

A trademark is a word, symbol, or design (such as a stylized brand name or logo) that a company uses to identify its goods and services and to distinguish them from other companies' goods and services. Generally, trademark laws exist to prevent customer confusion about the source of goods and services.

A trademark owner usually protects a trademark by registering it with a country-specific trademark office (such as the United States Patent and Trademark Office). In some cases, a person or company might have trademark rights based on only the use of a mark in commerce, even though the mark was never registered with a country-specific trademark office. Those rights are known as "common law" trademark rights and can be more limited.

A copyright protects original works of authorship, such as videos, movies, songs, books, musicals, video games, paintings, etc. Generally, copyright law is meant to incentivize the creation of original works of authorship for the benefit of the public. To receive copyright protection, a work of authorship must be created by an author and must have some amount of creativity. If someone is the author of an original work, then they typically own the copyright in that work.

In some countries, a copyright owner can protect its copyrighted material by registering the material with a country-specific copyright office (for example, the United States Copyright Office). You can use your copyrighted Content on listing detail pages to sell a listing; however, you should not take Media from other sources and add them to listing detail pages without the rights owner's permission.

Note: When you add your copyrighted Media or copyrighted Content to a listing detail page, you grant Amplife® and its affiliates a license to use the material. For more information, check out the Amplife® Vendor Participation Agreement.

Patent

A patent is a form of legal protection for inventions. An issued patent grants its owner the right to exclude others from making, using, or selling the invention for a fixed number of years. In the United States, there are two principal types of patents: Utility patents and Design patents.

Utility: A utility patent is different from a trademark in that it protects an invention (such as a new machine) rather than a word or logo used to identify the source of the listing. A utility patent is different from a copyright in that it does not protect the expressive content of a creative work like a book or a picture, but instead protects a specific invention, such as a new method of making microprocessor controlled prosthetic knees books or a new type of wheelchair.

Utility patents, the most common kind of patent, can be granted for the following:

  • A new machine
  • Article of manufacture
  • Composition of matter, process, or improvement to any of those
  • Protects the structure and functions of a listing (rather than how it appears)

Design: Design patents are granted for the unique appearance of a listing, but do not cover the functions of a listing.

Right of Publicity

The right of publicity, often called personality rights, is the right of an individual to control the commercial use of their name, image, likeness, or other unequivocal aspects of one's identity. You cannot post content that infringes on a person’s right of publicity nor force or otherwise coerce a person without an amicable agreement to allow the use of their rights of publicity.

If you are claiming a right to publicity you must specifically claim your right and provide evidence to support your claim for us to complete our investigation.

IP Rights Types

There are 3 main types of IP Rights:

Copyrights

  • Legal protections for original works of authorship.

Trademarks

  • Legal protections for a word, symbol, design, or combination of the same that a company uses to identify goods and services.

Patents

  • Legal protections for inventions.

IP infringement notices not accepted

Compatibility: Amplife® does not enforce notices seeking to remove true statements indicating compatibility with trademarked listings. If a listing detail page clearly and truthfully states the listing being sold on that page is compatible with a trademarked listing, Amplife® will not take action on a notice directed to the use of the trademarked term.

Location: If you are reporting infringement of a registered trademark or patent, your registered trademark or patent must be registered in the country where you are reporting the infringement. Amplife® does not take action on intellectual property notices concerning registered trademarks, designs, or patents from countries other than the country for which takedown is requested. For example, if you have a trademark registered in Mexico but not in the United States, and you ask Amplife® to remove a listing located in the United States from Amplife®, Amplife® will likely reject your notice.

Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) Agreements: Amplife® respects a manufacturer's right to enter into exclusive distribution agreements for its listings. However, violations of such agreements do not constitute intellectual property rights infringement. The the enforcement of these agreements is a matter between the manufacturer and the distributor/dealer. Amplife® does not assist in this type of enforcement activity.

Barcode Ownership: Amplife® does not enforce ownership over barcode, UPC, or EAN.

Reporting Infringement

To submit a notice of IP infringement, you must be the Rights Owner who owns the IP being reported or an agent with permission from the Rights Owner to submit notices on their behalf.

Rights Owners can submit a report by contacting us.

You should include the following information in your report:

  • Specific identification of the IP you believe is infringed. For trademarks, copyrights and patents include the registration number, written description of or link to copyrighted work, the first date of use, etc.
  • Nature of infringement (whether infringement occurs on the listing, physical listing packaging, image on the listing detail page, or text on the listing detail page).
  • List of infringing listings including URLs for the listing detail page of the specified listing.
  • Supporting documentation or any other information that will help Amplife® in processing your complaint (such as order numbers for any test buys on the listings you are reporting).
  • Your contact details (name, address, phone number, email address, and contact details that we can share with affected vendors).

Do not submit more than one type of IP violation per notice. To ensure the quality and quick resolution of your notices, we will only process the specific complaint type you have determined in your report, such as patent, trademark, or copyright. The following are examples of submissions that contain more than one complaint type within a notice:

  • Selecting trademark infringement and discussing copyright issues in the submission.
    • The notice will be processed as a trademark complaint only. If you want to report infringement of a trademark and a copyright, file separate notices.
  • Indicating two trademark numbers in one notice
    • The first trademark number will be considered for that notice. If you want to report infringement of separate trademarks, file separate notices.

If circumstances have changed post-submission of your infringement complaint, you may submit a retraction by contacting us.

Result from submitting a notice of infringement

You will receive a confirmation message that we are reviewing your notice. We will send you a follow-up message once your notice has been processed:

  • If your notice is valid, we will inform the responsible vendors about your claim and share your contact information with them should they have any follow-up questions.
  • If your notice of infringement is accepted, we will remove the Content you reported and take appropriate action against the responsible vendors. Amplife® does not share details of actions that are not already public.
  • If your notice of infringement is rejected, we will not remove the Content you reported and we will not take action against the vendor. You will receive a notification with the reason for the rejection of your notice.

Important: The continuous submission of inaccurate or fake notices will result in you being prohibited from submitting IP infringement notices.

Responding to an IP infringement notice

If you receive a notice or warning for infringement and you believe the rights owner or Amplife® made an error, you may appeal or dispute the claim.

Type of notice or warning and actions you may take:

For a listing you never listed on Amplife®

  • Reply to the notification you received and let us know that you have never listed the reported listing. We will investigate to determine if an error occurred.

If you have an established relationship with the rights owner

  • If you have a license or other agreement that allows you to use the IP identified in the notice, contact the rights owner who submitted the complaint to request a retraction. Your Content may be reinstated if we receive a retraction from the rights owner.

Trademark or counterfeit infringement on the listing or packaging

  • Modify the packaging to ensure they do not infringe the trademark and submit your appeal; or
  • If you believe your listing was removed in error, you may submit your appeal by contacting us. Please provide supporting documentation (e.g., letter of authorization, licensing agreement). We will then re-evaluate the notice, and your Content may be reinstated.

Trademark or counterfeit infringement on the listing detail page

  • Modify the listing detail page or pages to ensure they do not infringe the trademark and resubmit your listing; or
  • If you believe your listing was removed in error, you may resubmit your listing. Please provide supporting documentation (e.g., letter of authorization, licensing agreement). We will then re-evaluate the notice, and your Content may be reinstated.

Patent infringement

  • Reply with why you believe a mistake was made. You may also provide a court order demonstrating that your listing is non-infringing or that the asserted patent is invalid or unenforceable.
  • You may file a counter-notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The counter-notice must be sent to the email provided in your copyright warning and must include:
    • Your physical or electronic signature. You can sign electronically by typing your name with an indication that it is intended to be a signature: “/s/ Vendor Name.”
    • Identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been suspended, and the specific location where the material appeared before it was removed or access was suspended. A listing URL is generally sufficient.
    • A statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief that the material was removed or suspended as a result of error or misidentification of the material to be removed or suspended.
    • Your name, address, and number, and a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your vendor address is located; or, if you are located outside the United States, to the jurisdiction of the Superior Court of California, County of Contra Costa, and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided notification of alleged copyright infringement or an agent of such person.

Multiple warnings of IP infringement

If you have received multiple warnings of IP infringement and you believe you are selling non-infringing listings, submit an appeal by contacting us with the following information:

  • A list of the allegedly infringing listings and at least one of the following, as applicable:
    1. Invoices proving the authenticity of your listings (you may remove pricing information); or
    2. An authorization letter from the federal government agency for granting IP that demonstrates your ownership of the IP; or
    3. An authorization letter from the rights owner (cannot be a forwarded email); or
    4. A court order finding that your listing does not infringe the asserted IP, or that the asserted IP is invalid or unenforceable.

Account suspension

If your account has been suspended because of notices of IP infringement against your listings or Content submit an appeal by contacting us with the following information:

  • A list of the allegedly infringing listings and at least one of the following, as applicable:
    1. Invoices proving the authenticity of your listings (you may remove pricing information); or
    2. An authorization letter from the federal government agency for granting IP that demonstrates your ownership of the IP; or
    3. An authorization letter from the rights owner (cannot be a forwarded email); or
    4. A court order finding that your listing does not infringe the asserted IP, or that the asserted IP is invalid or unenforceable.

Note: Amplife® terminates the accounts of repeat infringers in appropriate circumstances.

Policy violations

Vendors are expected to follow the Law. Amplife® takes claims of IP infringement seriously. Even if a vendor is infringing IP without knowledge, we will still take action and your Amplife® account may receive a warning or be suspended and/or terminated. You should consult with an attorney for help to ensure that you have the right procedures in place to prevent IP infringement.


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