Amazon.com Inc v. Abeytube

District Court, W.D. Washington·Decided July 29, 2024·No. 2:22-cv-01019·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AMAZON TECHNOLOGIES INC., et al., CASE NO. 2:22-cv-01019-RSL

Plaintiffs, ORDER DIRECTING ENTRY v. OF JUDGMENT AND BIBO FANG, et al., PERMANENT INJUNCTION Defendants. This is an action for damages and injunctive relief for trademark infringement and related claims involving counterfeit 3M products sold under the 3M, Littman, L, Classic III, Cardiology IV, and Master Cardiology trademarks. This matter comes before the Court on “Plaintiffs’ Ex Parte Motion for Default Judgment and Permanent Injunction” against defendants Bibo Fang, Feng Xia Fang, Jun Wei Liang, Jun Yi Liang, Xiao Liang, and Zhi Chng Liang (collectively, “defendants”). Dkt. # 39. Defendants have not appeared, and their defaults were entered on January 18, 2024. Dkt. # 36. Having reviewed the motion, the supporting declarations, the remaining record, and the applicable law, the Court finds as follows: In recent months, the Western District of Washington has seen “numerous cases brought by Amazon.com, Inc. and Amazon.com Services, LLC, together with other intellectual property owners, against third parties allegedly facilitating the sale of counterfeit products in the Amazon.com store.” General Order 03-23, at 1 (Mar. 7, 2023). The cases are referred to collectively as the “Counterfeit Enforcement Actions.” Id. This is one of those cases. The motion currently pending before the Court is the latest in a series of recent motions for default judgment by Amazon Plaintiffs and/or its selling partners that have been handled by courts in this District. See, e.g., Amazon.com v. Kitsenka, C22-1574RSL (W.D. Wash. June 20,

2024); Amazon Techs., Inc. v. Qiang, C23-1060TL, 2024 WL 1606109 (W.D. Wash. Apr. 12, 2024); Amazon.com, Inc. v. Dong, C23-0159TL, 2024 WL 775900 (W.D. Wash. Feb. 26, 2024); Amazon.com, Inc. v. Wong, No. C19-0990JLR, 2024 WL 553695 (W.D. Wash. Feb. 12, 2024); Amazon.com, Inc. v. Dai, No. C21-0170RSM, 2023 WL 6233835 (W.D. Wash. Sept. 26, 2023); Amazon.com, Inc. v. Sirowl Tech., No. C20-1217RSL, 2022 WL 19000499 (W.D. Wash. Oct. 3, 2022); Amazon.com, Inc. v. White, No. C20-1773JHC, 2022 WL 1641423 (W.D. Wash. May 24, 2022); see also Amazon.com v. Kurth, No. C18-0353RAJ, 2019 WL 3426064 (W.D. Wash. July 30, 2019). Beginning in June 2017, defendants established, controlled, and operated sixty-one

selling accounts in the Amazon on-line store. Dkt. No. 26 ¶ 33. To become third-party sellers in the Amazon store, defendants were required to agree to the Amazon Services Business Solutions Agreement (“BSA”), which governs the seller’s access to and use of Amazon’s services and states Amazon’s rules for selling in the Amazon store. Dkt. No. 26 ¶ 34. By entering into the BSA, each seller represents and warrants that it “will comply with all applicable Laws in [the] performance of [its] obligations and exercise of [its] rights” under the BSA. Id. Under the terms of the BSA, Amazon identifies the sale of counterfeit goods as “deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity” in violation of its policies, reserving the right to withhold payments and terminate the selling account of any bad actor who engages in such conduct. Dkt. No. 26 ¶ 35. The BSA requires the seller to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Amazon against any claims or losses arising from the seller’s “actual or alleged infringement of any Intellectual Property Rights.” Id. The BSA also incorporates Amazon’s Anti-Counterfeiting Policy, which expressly prohibits the sale of counterfeit goods in the Amazon store and describes Amazon’s commitment to preventing the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods in the Amazon Store as well as the

consequences of doing so. Dkt. No. 26 ¶¶ 36-37. 3M Company, a plaintiff in this litigation and the owner of the subject trademarks, has examined the products sold by defendants and determined that the products are counterfeit and bear a counterfeit 3M trademark or other indications of the brand. Dkt. No. 26 ¶ 41. Plaintiffs allege that the defendants are the primary recipients of the proceeds of the counterfeit sales, they share various common characteristics including family names, addresses, IP networks, and logistics providers, and they use similar tactics to evade detection. Dkt. No. 26 ¶ 43. After plaintiffs confirmed the counterfeit sales, Amazon blocked defendants’ selling accounts from further sales in the Amazon store. Dkt. No. 26 ¶ 46. Plaintiffs filed this lawsuit on

July 22, 2022. Dkt. No. 1. Following the Clerk’s entry of default, plaintiffs filed this motion for default judgment and permanent injunction. A court’s decision to enter a default judgment is discretionary. Aldabe v. Aldabe, 616 F.2d 1089, 1092 (9th Cir. 1980). Default judgment is “ordinarily disfavored,” because courts prefer to decide “cases on their merits whenever reasonably possible.” Eitel v. McCool, 782 F.2d 1470, 1472 (9th Cir. 1986) (affirming district court’s denial of default judgment). When considering whether to exercise discretion to enter a default judgment, courts may consider a variety of factors, including: (1) the possibility of prejudice to the plaintiff, (2) the merits of a plaintiff’s substantive claim, (3) the sufficiency of the complaint, (4) the sum of money at stake in the action; (5) the possibility of a dispute concerning material facts; (6) whether the default was due to excusable neglect, and (7) the strong policy underlying the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Id. at 1471–72. Courts reviewing motions for default judgment must accept the allegations in the complaint as true, except facts related to the amount of damages. Geddes v. United Fin. Grp., 559 F.2d 557, 560 (9th Cir. 1977). “However, necessary facts not contained in the pleadings, and the claims which are legally insufficient, are not established by default.” Cripps v. Life Ins. Co. of N. Am., 980 F.2d 1261, 1267 (9th Cir. 1992); accord Little v. Edward Wolff & Assocs. LLC, No. C21-227, 2023 WL 6196863, at *3 (W.D. Wash. Sept. 22, 2023) (quoting Cripps). Damages are also limited to what was reasonably pled. Fed. R. Civ. P. 54(c) (“A default judgment must not differ in kind from, or exceed in amount, what is demanded in the pleadings.”).

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