Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Florida
Hello, in March 2022 I received an email about a trademark infringement from my account on Red Bubble (a global online marketplace for print-on-demand products) about trademarked band Duran Duran. I think I have had a single artwork up for a few days, but it sold nothing and it was soon removed. Red Bubble never communicated with me, kept selling my other artworks, and now refuses to hand me the profits of the last 9 months through Paypal. It's a few hundred bucks, but I wonder if there's anything I can do about it. It's unfair that they kept profiting from my work while refusing to pay me. I don't understand American laws, I'm in Italy and I cannot talk on the phone: is there anything that can be done? How should I proceed?
1 Answer from Attorneys
There's nothing you can do that will involve a lawyer that will be worth it for a few hundred bucks.
You can try filing a small court claim against the company in the state where they are located. In some cases, you can do this online and in other cases you may have to hire a paralegal or assistant to take the filing over to the court house.
Now you of course will not be flying in from Italy to go the hearing. You would do this as a strategy hoping that once they receive the summons they will reach out and perhaps try to work it out with you to avoid the hassle of having to go to the hearing and they will have no way to know whether you intend to show up or not.
All the best,
Frank