I run a drop-ship company selling products on various marketplaces, one of those being the US marketplace Wish. I have been contacted by Ference & Associates LLC who represents Doggie Dental Inc with the below message:
------------------------- Please be advised that we represent Doggie Dental Inc., et al., (“Plaintiff”), in the above matter that was filed against you in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, alleging that you engaged in infringing on one or more claims of the Plaintiffs’ Patent for the Plaintiff’s products. You are hereby being sued.
Upon receiving their email, I immediately removed the product from sale and apologised for mistakenly listing the product for sale. The product I had listed for sale on Wish was the one I purchase from Amazon below.
There are hundreds of these exact products for sale on Amazon, eBay and Wish, which would not be the case if they were illegal. However, apparently this company have US rights to the design, something that I was completely unaware of.
I later received an email from Wish stating that I had received a legal hold of $6,940.70 due to the complaint. Wish have deducted this money from my Wish balance which was due to be paid to me on April 1st.
The company then responded to my email asking how many units I had sold. I responded by explaining that I sold one unit last year for $24.99 and I offered to send them the money from this sale. I also showed them where I was buying from on Amazon and then asked them to remove the hold on my Wish account.
I received a response stating that the client is willing to settle this case for USD $10,000.00.
I responded saying that this was impossible and that the most I can offer is the revenue for the one sale I received. I am now awaiting their response.
I am now looking for a legal expert to tell me where I stand with this. I have mistakenly listed a product for sale on Wish that is being sold on every other website online. I do not see how a company that apparently have the US rights to this design can simply demand $10,000 from me.
If you know how I could bring this matter to a swift resolution I would be grateful to hear from you. Please also let me know what your fee would be for this?