What is the Finger Monkey Infringement Incident? Finger Monkey Infringement Incident Review, Features

Fingerlings is a touch-controlled smart toy that can wrap around the fingertips to make different movements. Its target audience is mainly children. Fingerlings is a smart toy under WowWee. At the end of 2017, several cross-border platforms received infringement lawsuits from Wowwee Fingerlings.

About Finger Monkey

The trademark and patent of Fingering Monkey belong to the international toy manufacturer WowWee. The company has applied for patent protection for the trademark and design of "Fingering Monkey" in the United States, Canada, Japan, Europe and other countries and regions. It is a branded product. According to data from venture capital and market consulting company NPD Group, in September 2017, Fingering Monkey was one of the fastest-selling toys in the United States.

WowWee has applied for copyright protection for each of its products, including the copyright of the front and back packaging of the products; WowWee has also registered three trademarks, mainly including the monkey head, the name of WowWee registered as a US trademark, and the words "fingerlings product" protected by trademarks. According to the US Trademark Office, the Fingerlings trademark was approved on October 31, 2017, and the holder is WowWee.

·The domestic patent application for this model was filed on April 12, 2017, and was granted on August 22. It is protected by the appearance patent.

Case Parameters

Case No. 17-cv-7969

Place of prosecution: Southern District of New York;

· Approximate time of prosecution: 2017/10/16;

Defendant brand: FINGERLINGS;

Plaintiff: WowWee Group Ltd;

Plaintiff’s law firm: Epstein Drangel LLP.

The plaintiff WowWee applied for the FINGERLINGS trademark at the United States Trademark Office (USPTO) on January 20, 2017, with the major category being 028 and the minor category being toys, and it will soon be registered.

Time Development

-On October 17, 2017, PayPal received a court order indicating that the Fingerlings sold by the seller may have infringed the intellectual property rights of Wowwee Fingerlings. It is said that the platforms involved include AliExpress, Amazon, eBay, Alibaba International Station, Dunhuang, etc., and there are as many as thousands of sellers involved.

-As of October 2017, 158 sellers have been sued by WOW WEE.

-In January 2018, 139+ Wish sellers received overseas lawyers’ letters. The largest seller had more than 10 million RMB frozen and 30 stores closed. Most of the sellers involved were from Shenzhen, followed by sellers from Ningbo, Yiwu and Hangzhou.

-In February 2018, the second batch of 83 sellers involved in the Wish Finger Monkey infringement incident were also exposed one after another.

External Voices

As the "Fingertips Monkey" incident develops, many merchants need to pay a certain price for this infringement. Merchants who conduct e-commerce business, especially cross-border e-commerce business, must establish a high level of intellectual property legal awareness, abide by the laws and policies of various countries, and cherish their accounts.

Compared with previous cases where accounts were blocked and funds were frozen due to infringement, the industry's view on this incident has become more rational. From the original retreat or criticism of the platform to active rights protection and self-reflection, it is enough to see that Chinese cross-border e-commerce sellers are growing and becoming more sophisticated.

Suggestions for sellers

To avoid such incidents from happening again, we recommend that you:

1. Do not sell infringing products. Before selecting products for sale, it is recommended to check the product registration status. Domestically, you can check through the China Trademark Office; internationally, you can check through platforms such as the World Intellectual Property Organization. Only when you have a clear understanding of the product can you sell it with ease.

2. Pay attention to problems such as "fishing enforcement", be vigilant and avoid risks. Some criminals will ask the seller whether they sell certain infringing products, use the seller's email and other reply information as evidence, defraud the seller's account in the form of sample orders and payments, and finally demand compensation.

3. In the bound payment account, the seller can withdraw cash as soon as possible after receiving the payment. Do not leave too much liquid funds in the payment account to avoid excessive impact caused by freezing.

4. We must pay attention to intellectual property issues, establish more and larger private brands and national brands, make the "MADE IN CHINA" label popular, allow cross-border products to achieve "cross-border", promote Chinese products to the world, and truly feel the pride of Made in China.