For most Amazon appeal letters and suspensions, an Amazon lawyer is unnecessary. It’s overkill. For example, if you are appealing a Late Shipment suspension or even a multiple account suspension, there is little that an Amazon lawyer can add to your appeal. However, there are circumstances where an ecommerce seller should absolutely look to hire an Amazon lawyer as opposed to someone who is an “Appeals Expert.”
Here are the cases where you should speak with an Amazon Lawyer:
- You have received a cease and desist letter from a law firm. There are some national law firms that specialize in cease and desist letters. Although most of their cases are baseless, you should still hire an Amazon lawyer to respond to the letter.
- You are named in a lawsuit. Again, many Amazon sellers receive forty page lawsuits alleging IP infringement and a whole slew of damages. You need to respond to the lawsuit and you should hire a lawyer to look it over.
- Any IP complaints. Let’s say you have imported a container of plush toys from China and another seller has alleged IP infringement. You need to hire an Amazon attorney to deal with either Brand Management company or the complainant directly. Brand Management companies will often not respond to your messages. Usually, you need an Amazon lawyer to twist their arm to go through the IP complaint. Since you are usually trying to get a retraction of the IP infringement you need an Amazon lawyer to explain why your product does not infringe on any IP. The lawyer can clearly explain the difference between a Trade Dress issue and a Trademark issue.
- Licensing Agreements. If you are licensing a brand you need a lawyer to go over the contract. You need to clearly understand your minimum order quantities and where you cannot sell the brand. A lot of times you will be precluded from selling online as some brands want to retain those rights.
- Arbitration Cases. If you are planning to file for arbitration you should hire an attorney to represent you.
- If you are trying to recover large sums of money that have been frozen by Amazon, you should probably speak with an attorney. They will be able to deal with Amazon’s legal team directly and will have a higher probability of recovering funds for you.
As I’ve mentioned before for many Amazon issues you can actually handle the Appeal on your own. As long as you don’t copy and paste from the Internet and have decent writing skills you can easily write a convincing appeal letter. However, if your issue involves some of the legal issues above you should at least speak to an Amazon lawyer to take a look at your case. We offer a free consultation where a lawyer can take the time to understand your issue and give you some advice about how to proceed.