Amazon.com Inc v. Zhi

CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Washington
DecidedMarch 4, 2024
Docket2:20-cv-01215
StatusUnknown

This text of Amazon.com Inc v. Zhi (Amazon.com Inc v. Zhi) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Amazon.com Inc v. Zhi, (W.D. Wash. 2024).

Opinion

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4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT TACOMA 7 AMAZON.COM INC; JL CHILDRESS CO Case No. 2:20-cv-01215-TMC-MLP 8 INC, ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR 9 ENTRY OF DEFAULT JUDGMENT AND Plaintiff, PERMANENT INJUNCTION 10 v. 11 TANG ZHI; ET AL, 12 Defendant. 13

14 Before the Court is Plaintiffs Amazon and J.L. Childress’s motion for entry of default 15 judgment and a permanent injunction against Defendants Zhi Tang, Jielong Zheng, Songjiang 16 Zheng, Yongjie Pan, Danni Bo, Guangzhao Chen, and Jinyong Zhang. Dkt. 50. None of the 17 Defendants have appeared in this action or responded to Plaintiffs’ motion. After review of 18 Plaintiffs’ motion, the relevant record, and governing law, the Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ 19 motion. 20 I. BACKGROUND 21 On August 10, 2020, Plaintiffs filed this case alleging that Defendants operated accounts 22 on Amazon.com through which they sold counterfeit J.L. Childress childcare products (such as 23 stroller bags and other travel accessories) between 2018 and 2020. Dkt. 1 at 3, 12–22. Plaintiffs 24 1 sought and were granted expedited discovery and service on Defendants via the email addresses 2 they used to register selling accounts on Amazon.com. Dkt. 4, 5, 10. Defendants Zhi Tang, 3 Jielong Zheng, Songjiang Zheng, Yongjie Pan, Guangzhao Chen, and Jinyong Zhang were

4 served via email on October 26, 2020. Dkt. 15. After additional discovery, Plaintiffs amended 5 their complaint on June 12, 2023 to add Danni Bo as a defendant. Dkt. 29 at 4–5. On September 6 25, 2023, Plaintiffs also served Danni Bo via email. Dkt. 42. 7 Between July and November 2019, J.L. Childress made “test purchases” from 8 Amazon.com selling accounts run by Defendants offering products advertised as J.L. Childress- 9 branded merchandise. Dkt. 29 at 12–15. J.L. Childress examined the test purchases and 10 determined they were counterfeits. Id. J.L. Childress informed Amazon of Defendants’ 11 counterfeit sales operations and Amazon blocked Defendants’ selling accounts after performing 12 its own verification. Id. at 15–16. Plaintiffs allege that Defendants sold at least $363,350 worth

13 of counterfeit J.L. Childress-branded merchandise. Dkt. 50 at 10. Plaintiffs then filed this lawsuit 14 to recover damages from Defendants’ counterfeit sales and to obtain injunctive relief against 15 Defendants’ false advertising and sales. Dkt. 29 at 16–21. 16 None of the Defendants have appeared in this matter or otherwise contacted Plaintiffs’ 17 counsel or the Court. Accordingly, on December 7, 2020, the Court entered an order of default 18 against Zhi Tang, Jielong Zheng, Songjiang Zheng, Yongjie Pan, Guangzhao Chen, and Jinyong 19 Zhang. Dkt. 17. Default was entered against Danni Bo on November 17, 2023. Dkt. 44. On 20 January 31, 2024, Plaintiffs moved for default judgment and permanent injunction against the 21 Defendants under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 55(b) and Local Civil Rule 55(b). Dkt. 50. 22 II. DISCUSSION

23 A. Jurisdiction

24 The Court first examines its jurisdiction when evaluating a motion for default judgment. 1 See In re Tuli, 172 F.3d 707, 712 (9th Cir. 1999). First, the Court has federal question 2 jurisdiction based on Plaintiffs’ claims for trademark infringement and false designation of origin 3 under 15 U.S.C § 1121 and 28 U.S.C. § 1338, respectively. The Court exercises supplemental

4 jurisdiction over Plaintiffs’ related claims for violations of the Washington Consumer Protection 5 Act pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332 and 1367. Second, the Court has personal jurisdiction over 6 Defendants because they consented to the forum selection clause in their seller agreements with 7 Amazon selecting state or federal court in King County, Washington. See Dkt. 29 at 6, 31, 34; 8 Chan v. Soc’y Expeditions, Inc., 39 F.3d 1398, 1406–07 (9th Cir. 1994) (“[A] forum selection 9 clause alone could confer personal jurisdiction . . . [and] would be an additional basis for 10 establishing personal jurisdiction.”) Defendants also directed their sales and other business 11 conduct toward Washington State in their dealings with Amazon, therefore establishing 12 minimum contacts, see Int’l Shoe Co. v. Wash., 326 U.S. 310, 316 (1945), and a reasonable

13 anticipation of “being haled into court” here. Sher v. Johnson, 911 F.2d 1357, 1361 (9th Cir. 14 1990). The Court has jurisdiction over the subject matter and the parties. 15 B. Default judgment standard

16 Motions for default judgment are governed by Rule 55 of the Federal Rules of Civil 17 Procedure. The Rule authorizes the Court to enter default judgment against a party that fails to 18 appear or otherwise defend in an action. Fed. R. Civ. P. 55. In deciding motions for default 19 judgment, courts take “the well-pleaded factual allegations in the complaint as true, except those 20 relating to the amount of damages.” Rozario v. Richards, 687 F. App’x 568, 569 (9th Cir. 2017) 21 (internal citations and quotation marks omitted)); Fed. R. Civ. P. 8(b)(6). Courts also do not 22 accept the truth of statements in the complaint that amount to legal conclusions. DIRECTV, Inc. 23 v. Hoa Huynh, 503 F.3d 847, 854 (9th Cir. 2007). “[N]ecessary facts not contained in the 24 pleadings, and claims which are legally insufficient, are not established by default.” Cripps v. 1 Life Ins. Co. of N. Am., 980 F.2d 1261, 1267 (9th Cir. 1992). Courts weigh the following factors 2 (“Eitel factors”) in deciding motions for default judgment: 3 (1) the possibility of prejudice to the plaintiff, (2) the merits of plaintiff’s substantive claim, (3) the sufficiency of the complaint, (4) the sum of money at 4 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 5 underlying the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure favoring decisions on the merits.

6 Eitel v. McCool, 782 F.2d 1470, 1471–72 (9th Cir. 1986); see NewGen, LLC v. Safe Cig, LLC, 7 840 F.3d 606, 616–17 (9th Cir. 2016) (discussing how district courts “weigh” the Eitel factors). 8 Entry of default judgment is left to a court’s sound discretion. Aldabe v. Aldabe, 616 F.2d 9 1089, 1092 (9th Cir. 1980). If a court determines that default judgment is appropriate, it then 10 determines the relief that should be given. See TeleVideo Sys., Inc. v. Heidenthal, 826 F.2d 915, 11 917–18 (9th Cir. 1987) (citing Geddes, 559 F.2d at 560). 12 C.

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