PopSockets accuses Amazon seller of trademark infringement

DENVER — An online store hosted on Amazon.com infringes on trademarks owned by Boulder-based PopSockets LLC, the company alleges in a trademark-infringement lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Denver.

PopSockets sued Plano, Texas, resident Lora Suzanne Wilcox and 10 individuals identified as John Does 1-10. Wilcox purportedly operates an online store currently known as TexasDeals2.

PopSockets develops, manufactures, markets and sells grips and stands for mobile devices. The company said that it has received numerous negative online marketplace reviews from customers who purchased products from sellers who did not implement the quality controls that PopSockets requires for online sales. Customers have complained of receiving damaged, counterfeit or otherwise low-quality products, the company said in its filing.

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The lawsuit includes examples of numerous negative reviews that PopSockets has received.

PopSockets maintains quality controls by selling its products exclusively through its website or through a network of authorized sellers.

“An Authorized Seller inspecting products as required would have caught those problems and prevented the product from being shipped to the customer,” the company said in its lawsuit.

PopSockets said it actively monitors the sale of PopSockets products online and, in February 2019, discovered products bearing the PopSockets trademark being sold by the defendants under the storefront name “Planoseller2,” which the company eventually identified as being operated by Wilcox.

When PopSockets sent correspondence to Wilcox at her home address, “Defendants changed the name of their Amazon storefront from ‘Planoseller2’ to ‘TexasDeals2,’ apparently in order to elude PopSockets’ enforcement,” the company alleges.

“Despite not being approved as Authorized Sellers and not meeting the requirements in the PopSockets Rules regarding quality controls, Defendants have sold, and continue to sell, products bearing the PopSockets Trademarks on their Amazon storefront,” the lawsuit states.

PopSockets accuses the defendants of trademark infringement, unfair competition, false advertising, common-law trademark infringement, common-law unfair competition, deceptive trade practices and tortious interference with existing and/or prospective contracts and business relations.

PopSockets is represented by Groves Law LLC, a Denver law firm, and Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP of Cleveland, Ohio. Calls to the attorneys Monday requesting comment were not immediately returned. Wilcox could not be reached for comment.