Smart Study Co. Ltd. v. Ababyking Store

District Court, S.D. New York·Decided December 20, 2022·No. 1:21-cv-01783·Unknown

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK ----------------------------------X

SMART STUDY CO., LTD.,

Plaintiff,

- against -

ABABYKING STORE, AMZPTBOY, BOMCAN, CLARE-TECH-ONLINE, CRAFPLAY, CUTE CHERRY, DISPLAY IT, DONGXIAO, DOTLITE, ECSTATICPARTY, ELSANIKO, FRUITFUL PARTY, GLIGLITTR, GLORY PARTERNER, HABBIPET, JENNIFER PER, ORDER JIAZSTYLED, JIEJIN, JINBAORUI, JU XI, KANGGY, KIDSINWE, KISS MONKEY, 21 Civ. 1783 (NRB) KOBIT DIRECT, KUANCHENGQUXINFAFAXIANSHENGXIAN, LEJIAWANG, LIANQIANMAOYIY, LYNHEVA, PAKBOOM, PARTY WELL, PEACOCKUI, QIYNAO, RONGFUCHANG, SENWAN GIFT STORE, SHAMI, SIENON, SQZKZC, STARINGIRL, SUMMERDAYS, TIME-KILLER, TOYS POUCH, WEI MI, WHHOKNB, XIANHEYUANXINGONGMAOYOUXIANGONGSI- 25, XINGRONGSHENG, YAMATCH DIRECT, YAWDYA, YONGCHUNCHENGQINGMAOYIYOUXIANGONGSI, YUJIAXINGGONGSI, YUYOUJIA, ZHAO2888, ZHONGZHUANG and ZITADA,

Defendants.

----------------------------------X

WHEREAS, on March 2, 2021, plaintiff Smart Study Co., Ltd. (“plaintiff”) filed a complaint against various online merchants located in China, which are conducting business in the United States via their e-commerce storefronts on Amazon.com, including Clare-Tech-Online, Crafplay, Display it, DONGXIAO, EcstaticParty, Elsaniko, Glory Parterner, Habbipet, JINBAORUI, KANGGY, Kobit Direct, kuanchengquxinfafaxianshengxian, Lejiawang, lianqianmaoyiy, party well, QIYNAO, rongfuchang, ShaMi, Summerdays, Time-killer, TOYS POUCH, WHHOKNB, XiAnHeYuanXinGongMaoYouXianGongSi-25, xingrongsheng, Yamatch

Direct, YAWDYA, yujiaxinggongsi, yuyoujia, ZHAO2888 and Zitada (the “defaulting defendants”), for trademark counterfeiting; trademark infringement; false designation of origin, passing off, and unfair competition; copyright infringement; and New York unfair competition, arising from their infringement of plaintiff’s Baby Shark Marks1 and Baby Shark Works2 (the “action”) (ECF No. 7 ¶ ¶ 1, 6, 30, 49-95);

1 “Baby Shark Marks” shall be defined as the marks covered by the Baby Shark Registrations (U.S. Trademark Registration Nos.: 5,803,108 for “BABY SHARK” for a variety of goods in Class 28; 5,483,744 for “PINKFONG” for a variety of goods in Classes 3 and 21; 5,327,527 for “PINKFONG” for a variety of goods in Classes 9, 16 and 28; 4,993,122 for “PINKFONG” a variety of goods in Classes 9 and 25; 6,138,374 for “pinkfong” for a variety of goods in Class 41; and 6,021,523 for “pinkfong Baby Shark” for a variety of goods in Class 28) and the Baby Shark Applications (U.S. Trademark Serial Application Nos.: 79/253,035 for registration of “BABY SHARK” for a variety of goods in Classes 41, 25, 16 and 9; 79/249,403 for registration of “PINKFONG BABY SHARK” for a variety of goods in Classes 24 and 21; 88/396,786 for registration of “PINKFONG BABY SHARK” for a variety of goods in Class 25; 88/529,984 for registration of “PINKFONG” for a variety of goods in Class 2, 3, 9, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 41; 88/530,086 for registration of “BABY SHARK” for a variety of goods in Class 2, 3, 9, 14, 16, 18, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 41; 88/594,141 for “PINKFONG” for a variety of goods in Class 5; and 88/594,122 for “BABY SHARK” for a variety of goods in Class 5).

2 “Baby Shark Works” shall be defined as U.S. Copyright Registration Nos.: VA 2-130-856, covering Baby Shark; VA 2-130-847, covering Daddy Shark; VA 2-130- 854, covering Mommy Shark; VA 2- 131-983, covering Pink Fong Mascot; SR 823- 609, covering Baby Shark (Sound Recording and Music); and PA 2-142-905, covering Baby Shark (Motion Picture). WHEREAS, on March 2, 2021, plaintiff filed an ex parte application for an order authorizing bifurcated and alternative service by email pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(f)(3) (“March 2, 2021 application”) (ECF Nos. 13-16); WHEREAS, in support of its March 2, 2021 application,

plaintiff asserted that “[a]lthough China is a signatory to [the Hague Convention], the [Hague] Convention ‘shall not apply where the address of the person to be served with the document is not known’” and “there are, in fact, only partial, incomplete or no physical addresses whatsoever associated with the majority of Defendants’ User Accounts3” (ECF No. 15 at 21, 22 n. 15 (citing Hague Convention, November 15, 1965, Article 1)); WHEREAS, on March 3, 2021, the Court granted plaintiff’s March 2, 2021 application, finding that “[s]ervice on [the defaulting defendants] via electronic means is reasonably calculated to result in proper notice to [the defaulting defendants]” and that sufficient cause exists to authorize and

deem effective alternative service by email (ECF No. 4 ¶¶ 17, IV); WHEREAS, on March 15, 2021, plaintiff served the defaulting defendants by email (ECF Nos. 17, 18);

3 “User Accounts” shall be defined as any and all websites and any and all accounts with online marketplace platforms such as Alibaba and AliExpress, as well as any and all as yet undiscovered accounts with additional online marketplace platforms held by or associated with the defaulting defendants, their respective officers, employees, agents, servants and all persons in active concert or participation with any of them. WHEREAS the defaulting defendants did not answer the complaint; WHEREAS, on September 8, 2022, plaintiff filed a proposed certificate of default as to the defaulting defendants (ECF Nos. 55-56);

WHEREAS, on September 9, 2022, the Clerk of Court issued a certificate of default as to the defaulting defendants (ECF No. 57); WHEREAS, on September 9, 2022, plaintiff moved for default judgment as to the defaulting defendants (ECF Nos. 58-61); WHEREAS, following a request from the Court, on December 13, 2022, plaintiff filed a supplemental memorandum of law and declaration in support of its motion for default judgment to address the issue of whether plaintiff exercised reasonable diligence in attempting to discover the defaulting defendants’ physical addresses for service of process, in light of Judge Gregory Woods’ recent decision in Smart Study Co. v. Acuteye-Us,

No. 21 Civ. 5860 (GHW), 2022 WL 2872297 (S.D.N.Y. July 21, 2022), holding that email service on Chinese defendants is prohibited by the Hague Convention, but recognizing that the Hague Convention does not apply when a plaintiff could not identify a Chinese defendant’s physical address after exercising reasonable diligence, id. at 5, 7; see also Cengage Learning, Inc. v. Xuhong Wang, No. 17 Civ. 4914 (JFK), 2017 WL 11570668, at *2 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 14, 2017) (“[S]ervice of process by email on Defendants in China is not prohibited by the Hague Convention, to which China is a signatory, because the Hague Convention does not apply where the address of the person to be served is not known to the party serving process.”);

WHEREAS, in its supplemental declaration, plaintiff declared that it attempted to identify the defaulting defendants’ physical addresses by seeking expedited discovery from the defaulting defendants, Financial Institutions4, and Third Party Service Providers5, including Amazon, which failed to provide the requested physical addresses, and by utilizing attorneys at Epstein Drangel’s Beijing office, who conducted further research using a Chinese search engine, a Chinese company registration website, and the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System, but was nevertheless unable to do

4 “Financial Institutions” shall be defined as any banks, financial institutions, credit card companies and payment processing agencies, such as Amazon.com, Inc., Amazon Payments, Inc. (“Amazon Pay”), PayPal Inc. (“PayPal”), Payoneer Inc. (“Payoneer”), PingPong Global Solutions, Inc.

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Smart Study Co. Ltd. v. Ababyking Store, (S.D.N.Y. 2022).

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