Fake accounts and counterfeit goods and domain disputes

A customer asks why your business has opened a second account. You have not. Another customer sends a link to an unfamiliar shop using your name. The worry is bigger than one copied image: people are dealing with someone they think is you. Split the problem into its parts (the account, the goods, the domain) because each one has its own route.

Write down what each part is doing

A profile can impersonate you without selling anything. A seller can offer goods bearing your mark. A domain can lead to a misleading shop, or simply share a word with your business. For each one, record what it does and what ties it to you: your name, your artwork, claims to be you or to be connected with you, your contact details, messages sent to your customers. Save the pages before you report anything, because a report can make them disappear; saving IP evidence explains how.

Then match each problem to a form:

• An account pretending to be you: use the platform's impersonation report. Facebook lets you report a profile or Page pretending to be you even if you do not have a Facebook account. 4 YouTube's impersonation policy covers channels that copy your name, profile picture or banner, or add "Official" to pose as you, and you report the channel itself. 5
• A listing using your brand or your photos: use the platform's trademark or copyright form. A report about one photograph does not deal with an account that is pretending to be your whole business, so file each report for what it covers. Platform reports and takedowns walks through the forms.
• A domain name: use the domain dispute route below, not a platform form.

Use "counterfeit" only for an identical mark

In U.S. law, counterfeiting means using a spurious mark that is identical with, or substantially indistinguishable from, a registered mark on goods, labels or packaging. 1 A similar design, a poor-quality imitation or an unauthorized reseller is not automatically a counterfeit; call it what it is.

Write what you see, not your conclusion. "The listing shows our registered logo and says the bag is made by our company" helps a reviewer; "fake" does not. Save the listing, the seller's name and details, every claim about origin, and any messages or receipts you already have.

On U.S. online marketplaces, look up the seller. For high-volume third-party sellers with $20,000 or more in annual gross revenue, the marketplace must show the seller's full name, physical address and a way to contact them, and every high-volume seller's listing page must carry a phone number and an electronic way to report suspicious activity. 6

If the fakes are coming in from abroad, use the border route:

1. Register the mark with the USPTO. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) only records trademarks registered on the USPTO Principal Register. 7
2. Record the registration with CBP through its e-Recordation program; there is a fee per class of goods. 1 7 CBP can then detain, seize and destroy imports bearing your recorded mark. 7
3. Report suspect shipments or importers through CBP's e-Allegations, and contact the National IPR Coordination Center (IPR Center) about further enforcement. 7

If the goods could hurt someone, report that too. Report a dangerous consumer product to the Consumer Product Safety Commission at SaferProducts.gov 8; for counterfeit medicines, the USPTO points to the FDA's online reporting tool. 1

Test a domain against the three UDRP elements

The Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) covers .com, .net and the other generic domains: every ICANN-accredited registrar has adopted it. 2 3 To win, you must prove all three:

1. The domain is identical or confusingly similar to a trademark or service mark you have rights in.
2. The registrant has no rights or legitimate interests in the domain.
3. The domain was registered and is being used in bad faith. 2

A resemblance proves only the first element. Bad faith includes registering the domain mainly to sell it to you or a competitor for more than the registrant's out-of-pocket costs, to disrupt a competitor's business, or to attract people for commercial gain by creating confusion with your mark. 2 The registrant has a legitimate interest if, before any notice of the dispute, they used the domain (or made real preparations to use it) for a genuine business, if they are commonly known by that name, or if they make a legitimate noncommercial or fair use without intending to mislead customers for gain. 2

So check the dates and the site before you file. A business that legitimately uses a common word, or a domain registered long before your brand existed, is unlikely to meet the bad-faith element. Your trademark rights must come from a registered mark, or an unregistered mark you can prove, anywhere in the world. 3

Know what a UDRP case costs and delivers

• Where to file: with an ICANN-approved provider of your choice. 2 At WIPO, you can use the optional model complaint and file online or by email, paying the fee when you submit. 3
• Cost: the complainant pays the provider's fee; check WIPO's fee schedule for the current amount by number of domains and panelists. 9 The respondent pays nothing unless it asks for a three-member panel. 2 3
• Time: a WIPO case normally ends within two months of the complaint arriving. 3
• Outcome: the panel can transfer the domain to you, cancel it (anyone can then register it again), or deny the complaint. It cannot award money or legal costs. 3
• Court: either side can still go to court. After a transfer or cancellation decision, the registrar waits ten business days and holds off if, in that time, the registrant shows it has sued you in a court the policy allows. 2

Country-code domains are different. Some, such as .co, .tv and .ws, use the UDRP; others, such as .au, .fr, .cn and .nl, use their own variation; check WIPO's list for the domain you care about before you follow UDRP instructions. 3

If a domain complaint is filed against you

You have 20 days from the start of the proceeding to file a response, and you can ask for a four-day extension. If you do not respond, the panel still decides on what it has, and you are in default. 3 Gather your evidence of legitimate use: when and why you registered the domain, what you used it for before you heard of the dispute, and whether people know you by that name. 2 A complaint is not proof of bad faith, but owning a domain does not give you permission to use someone else's brand in a misleading way either. Talk to a trademark attorney who handles domain disputes before the 20-day response deadline runs out.

Tell customers which channels are yours

While the reports are in progress, post a short, factual notice on your verified accounts and your website: list your real account handles and domain, and explain how to contact you. Do not ask followers to pile on the fake account or repeat an accusation you have not confirmed. The goal is to point people to the real you.

Give the same saved record to everyone involved, whether that is platform support, a marketplace, CBP or your attorney, so each one can act on the part they handle.