Chanel is a French luxury brand, whose main products include clothing, jewelry, watches, glasses, perfume, cosmetics and skin care products. As a major rights advocate, as of August 2024, Chanel has filed 634 trademark lawsuits in the US federal district court, including 31 e-commerce trademark lawsuits this year, making it the most frequent cross-border e-commerce trademark case plaintiff of the year.
Chanel’s e-commerce lawsuits often use the Schedule A Defendant Mechanism (SAD). According to a research report released by the National Center, SAD exploits weak links in US law and liability loopholes in e-commerce platforms. With the consent of the judge, rights holders can claim settlement fees from e-commerce platforms through SAD without meeting some basic procedural safeguards. The SAD mechanism refers to the fact that the list of defendants is listed in Appendix A document, Appendix A is submitted separately from the complaint, and Appendix A is generally sealed. This means that the defendant merchants in Appendix A generally only become aware of being sued when the platform enforces a temporary injunction (TRO) approved by the court.
Taking case 24-cv-60447 as an example, Chanel submitted a lawsuit to the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida in March 2024 and filed a motion for concealment in accordance with local rule 5.4; In April, the case was unsealed and began serving subpoenas. The injunction took effect simultaneously and restricted asset transfers, involving 69 defendants (including multiple domestic e-commerce companies, including one from Shaoxing, Zhejiang); In May, Chanel submitted a motion for default judgment; In June, the default judgment was passed and the lawsuit was closed.
Over 80% of the 217 e-commerce lawsuits initiated by Chanel were filed in the Southern District Court of Florida in the United States, and over 87% were represented by the law firm Stephen M. Gaffigan. Among the 194 lawsuits that have been closed, the plaintiff has won 177 cases (143 default judgments), settled 6 cases, and closed 11 cases through litigation. Chanel’s e-commerce lawsuits are closed quickly, with over 50% of cases being resolved within 65-181 days, and a median settlement time of 93 days. The e-commerce lawsuit initiated by Chanel has a relatively high amount of compensation, with four recent cases resulting in a total compensation of one million US dollars.
