Coupang Case: Resuming Luggage Sales after a Design Complaint

IPLEX represented a Coupang luggage seller and helped resume sales that had been suspended following a design infringement complaint.

Below is an example of an actual case.

Seller A, who sold luggage on Coupang, received a notification alleging design infringement. The notice was broadly as follows:

The product appears identical or similar to a registered design and may infringe IP rights. Failure to submit supporting explanations may result in extended sales restrictions or account sanctions.

The registered design was as follows:

Seller A considered the product to be an ordinary luggage design and questioned the allegation. The seller asked IPLEX to review the case and prepare a patent attorney's opinion. 

The main issue in this case was twofold.

The issues were whether the seller's luggage was similar to the registered design and whether that registered design was valid.

Simply stating “looks similar” does not hold the seller responsible. We had to look at the scope of the Design Protection Act, what the relationship was with the previous product, and whether there were any problems during the registration process.

IPLEX organized the case in the following order:

In the first step, we placed a picture of the actual product of the seller A side-by-side with the problematic registered design drawings, and compared the design one by one around the lock, wheel connections, and overall proportions that the consumer notices. As a result, we found a clear difference between the lock structure and position, the shape of the wheel support, and the shape of the bottom part.

We then found that the same luggage had been sold on Korean and Chinese online marketplaces before the design's filing date. Dated listings and purchase photographs supported the prior public disclosure and sales.

We also argued that, even if there were some similarity, the product followed a widely available prior-art design that anyone could use.

We organized the legal analysis, photographic comparisons, prior-product evidence and relevant cases into a patent attorney's opinion and explanatory statement for Coupang's IP team.

Coupang reviewed the opinion and evidence, accepted the response and approved resumption of the luggage sales.

The seller retained the account and listings without further sanctions and resumed normal sales.

This case illustrates the following points:

1) Not all registered designs are valid.

2) If the design was already known before filing, the resulting registration may be vulnerable to challenge and its enforcement may be restricted.

3) Even in situations that appear to be infringing, a careful analysis of the actual design structure and the prior product relationship can provide sufficient protection.

4) The intellectual property rights dispute of the online platform can be resolved more quickly and reliably when there is evidence and a legal opinion.

IPLEX IP Law Firm provides a countermeasure strategy based on the actual resumption of sales for claims of infringement of design right, trademark, suspension of sale, and suspension of account, which occur repeatedly in the Coupang, Smart Store, and overseas markets.

If sales or an account have been suspended, review the asserted right's validity, design similarity and prior-product evidence with a professional before accepting an infringement allegation.