Piechowicz v. The Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations Identified in Schedule A
Filing
69
AMENDED PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION ORDER: Based on the foregoing findings of fact and conclusions of law, Plaintiff's Motion for a Preliminary Injunction is hereby: 1. GRANTED against Defendants on the basis of Plaintiff's claims of copyright i nfringement, 2. It is ORDERED as follows: As sufficient causes have been shown, Defendants are temporarily enjoined and restrained from engaging in any of the following conduct pending the return date of the Application as referenced below: as furthe r set forth in this Order. The temporary transfer of Defendants storefront effected under Plaintiffs Temporary Restraining Order shall immediately be in effect under this Preliminary Injunction, including that all e-commerce platforms operating or ho sting Defendants and all Defendant owned or operated storefronts are to: as further set forth in this Order. This Preliminary Injunction Order is entered September 24, 2024, and shall remain in effect until final judgment is rendered in this action or the Court so orders otherwise. (Signed by Judge Vernon S. Broderick on 9/24/2024) (sgz)
FACTUAL FINDINGS & CONCLUSIONS OF LAW
A. Plaintiff has shown a reasonable probability of success on the issue of personal jurisdiction.
Plaintiff alleges that each Defendant has shipped an allegedly infringing product to New York,
(Doc. 33 ¶ 7), and has provided evidence that allegedly infringing products are available for
shipment to New York via Amazon, (Doc. 34-1). Thus, Plaintiff has made a preliminary
showing that this Court’s exercise of jurisdiction comports with New York’s long-arm statute
and due process. See PinkFong Co., Inc. v. Avensy Store et al., No. 23-CV-9238 (S.D.N.Y. Nov.
30, 2023), ECF No. 13 at *3–4; Am. Girl, LLC v. Zembrka, --- F.4th ---, No. 21-1381, 2024 WL
4206197, at *3–4 (2d Cir. Sept. 17, 2024) (explaining that a refunded online purchase never
shipped satisfies New York’s long-arm statute and due process); cf. Poof-Slinky, LLC v. A.S.
Plastic Toys Co., No. 19-CV-9399, 2020 WL 5350537, at *4 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 4, 2020)
(explaining that allegations “that Defendants communicate with consumers, accept orders in
United States dollars, and advertise, sell, and ship counterfeit products from their online
marketplaces to New York” are sufficient to establish personal jurisdiction).
B. Plaintiff has shown that the true address of each Defendant, including Defendants located in
China, is not known, such that electronic service over Defendants is proper. Plaintiff has
submitted a declaration indicating that her attorney attempted to discover a physical address for
service of each Defendant located in China by researching the address listed on the Amazon
storefront of each Defendant; searching for the address on multiple search engines, including a
Chinese service; and searching for potential other addresses of each Defendant on multiple
search engines. (See Doc. 63 at 2.) After undertaking these efforts, Plaintiff concluded that each
of Defendant’s addresses “was invalid and did not indicate in any way that it was an actual
business address.” (Id.) Thus, I am satisfied that Plaintiff has exercised reasonable diligence to
determine that Defendants located in China “display false addresses on their Merchant
Storefront[s],” such that these “addresses are ‘not known’ for purposes of exemption from the
Hague Convention.” Pinkfong Co., Inc. v. Avensy Store, No. 23-CV-09238, 2023 WL 8530159,
at *3 (S.D.N.Y. Nov. 8, 2023).
C. Plaintiff is likely to prevail on her copyright infringement claims at trial. Specifically,
Plaintiff is likely to succeed on her claims of copyright infringement a claims against Defendants
for their use of Plaintiff’s copyrighted artworks.
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D. As a result of Defendant’s misconduct, Plaintiffs are likely to suffer immediate and
irreparable losses, damages, and injuries. For example:
1. Defendants have offered for the sale substandard and unauthorized Infringing Products
bearing, using, or infringing on the Plaintiff’s copyrights through the Defendant
Storefronts;
2. Plaintiff has well-founded fears that more Infringing Products will appear in the
marketplace using the same Seller Ids or new and different Seller Ids; that consumers
may be misled, confused and disappointed by the quality of these Infringing Products,
resulting in injury to Plaintiff’s reputation and goodwill.
3. Plaintiff has well-founded fears that, in the absence of a preliminary injunction,
Defendants will: (i) transfer, conceal, dispose of, or otherwise destroy the Infringing
Products and information concerning the Infringing Products; (ii) transfer, conceal,
dispose of, or otherwise hide the ill-gotten proceeds from the improper sale of the
Infringing Products; and/or (iii) close down existing User Accounts, transfer User
Account information, and/or open a new User Account through which Defendants can
improperly advertise, market, promote, distribute, offer for sale and/or sell the of
Infringing Products under a new or different alias, allowing Defendants’ misconduct to
continue with little or no consequence.
4. On balance, the potential harm to Defendants of being prevented from continuing to
profit from their illegal and infringing activities if a temporary restraining order is issued
is far outweighed by the potential harm to Plaintiff, their business, and the goodwill and
reputation built up in and associated with the Plaintiff’s copyrights if a preliminary
injunction is not entered.
5. The public interest favors issuance of the preliminary injunction to protect Plaintiff’s
interests in and to the Plaintiff’s intellectual property, and to protect the public from
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being deceived and defrauded by Defendants’ use of Plaintiff’s intellectual property and
counterfeit copies of the Plaintiff’s copyrights.
ORDER
Based on the foregoing findings of fact and conclusions of law, Plaintiff’s Motion for a
Preliminary Injunction is hereby:
1. GRANTED against Defendants on the basis of Plaintiff’s claims of copyright
infringement,
2. It is ORDERED as follows:
Preliminary Injunction
A. As sufficient causes have been shown, Defendants are temporarily enjoined and restrained
from engaging in any of the following conduct pending the return date of the Application as
referenced below:
1. Using the Plaintiff’s copyrights or any reproductions, counterfeit copies, or colorable
imitations thereof in any manner in connection with the distribution, marketing,
advertising, offering for sale, or sale of any Infringing Products;
2. Passing off, inducing, or enabling others to sell or pass off any product as a affiliated or
approved by Plaintiff that is not, in fact, produced under the authorization, control, or
supervision of Plaintiff and approved by Plaintiff for sale under the Plaintiff’s copyrights;
3. Committing any acts calculated to cause consumers to believe that Defendants’
Infringing Products are those sold under the authorization, control, or supervision of
Plaintiff, or are sponsored by, approved by, or otherwise connected with Plaintiff;
4. Further infringing the Plaintiff’s copyrights and damaging Plaintiff’s goodwill;
5. Shipping, delivering, holding for sale, transferring, or otherwise moving, storing,
distributing, returning, or otherwise disposing of, in any manner, products or inventory
not manufactured by or for Plaintiff, nor authorized by Plaintiff to be sold or offered for
sale, and which bear(s) the Plaintiff’s copyrights or any reproductions, counterfeit copies,
or colorable imitations thereof;
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6. Using, linking to, transferring, selling, exercising control over, or otherwise owning the
User Accounts, the Defendant Storefronts, or any other domain name or online market
place account that is being used to sell or is the means by which Defendants could
continue to sell Infringing Products; and
7. Operating and/or hosting websites and/or any other web presence registered or operated
by Defendants that are involved with the distribution, marketing, advertising, offering for
sale, or sale of any product embodying or bearing the Plaintiff’s copyrights.
Temporary Transfer of Defendant Storefronts
A. The temporary transfer of Defendants storefront effected under Plaintiff’s Temporary
Restraining Order shall immediately be in effect under this Preliminary Injunction, including that
all e-commerce platforms operating or hosting Defendants and all Defendant owned or operated
storefronts are to:
1. disable and cease providing services for any User Accounts through which Defendants
engage in the sale of Infringing Products or the infringement of the Plaintiff’s copyrights;
2. disable and cease displaying any advertisements used by or associated with Defendants in
connection with the sale of Infringing Products; and
3. take all steps necessary to prevent links to the Defendant Storefronts identified on
Schedule A from displaying in search results, including, but not limited to, removing
links to the Defendants Storefront from any search index.
Temporary Asset Restraint
4. The Temporary Asset Restraint set forth in the Temporary Restraining Order in this
action shall hereby, effectively immediately, remain in effect under this Preliminary
Injunction.
Service by Electronic Mail and/or Electronic Publication
5. Service of this Order and the Summons and Complaint may be made by electronic means.
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This Preliminary Injunction Order is entered September 24, 2024, and shall remain in effect
until final judgment is rendered in this action or the Court so orders otherwise.
By:
HON. VERNON S. BRODERICK
UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
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SCHEDULE A
Copyright
Infringed
Seller Business
Alias
Seller ID
1
Bumble Bee
(VA 2-368-850)
ALOTS
A1HY5DIQN94C0S
2
Bumble Bee
(VA 2-368-850)
You are very lucky
A2WMK2JTI4ZRR6
3
Bumble Bee
(VA 2-368-850)
ROUKANNGE
AC49Z05PAFOHX
5
Bumble Bee
(VA 2-368-850)
Mogyn
A2LNE2F3MRA99Y
7
Bumble Bee
(VA 2-368-850)
DaDing Store
ABMUXESGTI5HS
8
Bumble Bee
(VA 2-368-850)
Passdone Direct
A7W11OQ5XFLPD
9
Bumble Bee
(VA 2-368-850)
UPmall Direct
A1OOPR4ZIVPIU5
12
Bumble Bee
(VA 2-368-850)
LCOZX
A2VFMBENU2001H
13
Bumble Bee
(VA 2-368-850)
Xiangcheng Botte
Trading Co.
A1XOBRIL4I9ODR
14
Bumble Bee
(VA 2-368-850)
ZWJXYR SHOP
A27PBWMLEZ0N2P
15
Bumble Bee
(VA 2-368-850)
Treasures Shop1
A1RIN25ER62FO0
16
Bumble Bee
(VA 2-368-850)
Zen Garden
Essentials
A21R356ZSW5JGH
17
Bumble Bee
(VA 2-368-850)
Cool Art Stuff
A38DDLQUZXGT46
20
Black Cat
(VA 2-368-862)
21
Black Cat
(VA 2-368-862)
putianshilichengqu A289BGBBOZBNXJ
weicaimaoyiyouxia
ngongsi
BKR Graphics
A17YUWSTCCGXGI
No.
7
22
Black Cat
(VA 2-368-862)
HEZHONGKUI
A1L13PR7WZIVOC
24
Bumble Bee
(VA 2-368-850)
Josid
A14HOFNV1F21AH
26
Bumble Bee
(VA 2-368-850)
Aile Décor
A3JXCA6CURN1YS
8
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