Intellectual Property Policy
Draft — pending attorney review. This document was prepared by Klatchit and has not yet been reviewed by outside counsel. It states how Klatchit actually operates and we intend to be bound by it, but it is not legal advice and may change once reviewed.
What is prohibited on Klatchit, what happens when a claim against a store is upheld, and how a seller answers back. The thresholds below are read live from the settings the enforcement system itself runs on, so what is published here is what is enforced.
Report intellectual-property infringement →
Prohibited conduct
These are the categories Klatchit records a violation under. Every enforcement action taken against a store cites exactly one of them.
Counterfeit
Selling, or offering, goods bearing a mark that is not the rights holder's — replicas, knock-offs, unauthorized reproductions, and anything represented as a brand that did not make it. This is the most serious finding on the list and is scored accordingly.
Trademark infringement
Using someone else's mark, logo, or brand name in a way that misleads a buyer about who made or authorized the product — including in titles, images, and search keywords, and including for accessories or replacement parts.
Copyright infringement
Listing pirated or unlicensed copies of a copyrighted work, or using someone else's photographs, product descriptions, or artwork in a listing without the right to do so.
Gray market / unauthorized distribution
Offering genuine goods diverted outside the rights holder's authorized channel where they differ materially from what that rights holder authorized for this market — different warranty, different formulation, missing local-language labelling, or region-specific packaging.
Expired or short-dated goods
Offering a consumable past its expiry or best-before date, or without disclosing that date where the category requires disclosure.
Altered goods
Selling a product whose lot code, date code, serial number, or safety labelling has been removed, obscured, defaced, or relabelled — regardless of whether the goods are otherwise genuine.
Restricted keywords
Using terms the platform restricts in a listing's text, including brand names in categories a store isn't approved for and claim language a product isn't entitled to make.
Listing policy
Breaking the general rules for what a listing may say and show — misleading titles, wrong category, images that are not the product, or a listing that does not match the catalog item it is attached to.
Review manipulation
Soliciting, incentivizing, exchanging, or fabricating reviews, or attempting to have legitimate negative reviews removed by any route other than the published one.
API abuse
Using the seller API outside its published terms — evading rate limits, scraping other stores' data, or sharing key credentials.
INFORM Act non-compliance
Failing to provide, or providing false, seller-verification information required of high-volume third-party sellers under the INFORM Consumers Act.
Other
A policy violation that does not fit the categories above. Used sparingly and always with a written explanation to the seller.
How an upheld claim is scored
A claim only becomes a strike when Klatchit upholds it and removes the listing. Declined claims are never scored, and a claim a seller successfully answers is revoked and stops counting entirely. Each upheld claim carries a severity, and each severity is worth a fixed number of points:
| Claim upheld | Severity | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Counterfeit | Egregious | 3 |
| Trademark infringement | Major | 2 |
| Copyright (DMCA) | Major | 2 |
| Gray market | Major | 2 |
| Expired or altered goods | Major | 2 |
A strike stops counting 365 days after it is issued. A strike keeps the decay window it was issued under, so changing this setting never lengthens a strike a seller already has.
Repeat-infringer policy
Klatchit terminates the accounts of repeat infringers. These are the thresholds, in active (non-decayed, non-revoked) points:
- 2 points — formal written warning. The store keeps selling; the warning is on the record.
- 4 points — selling privileges suspended pending review. The store becomes eligible for a reinstatement decision after 30 days. Reinstatement is never automatic; a person decides it.
- 6 points — account permanently closed as a repeat infringer.
- The 3rd counterfeit finding closes the account regardless of the point total. Selling a fake is a different act from selling a genuine article outside its authorized channel, and it is treated as one.
Points are counted per store account. Opening a new account to escape a termination is itself grounds for closing that account.
Gray market and material differences
Genuine goods can still infringe. Where a unit differs materially from what the rights holder authorized for this market — a different warranty, a different formulation, missing or foreign-language safety labelling, region-specific packaging, or a bundle the brand does not sell — the mark on it no longer tells a buyer the truth about what they are getting, and offering it undisclosed is a violation.
Klatchit does not enforce minimum advertised price. MAP is a commercial term between a brand and its distributors; it is not an intellectual-property right, and a notice whose only complaint is that a seller priced below MAP will be declined. Filing an IP notice to enforce a pricing agreement is a misuse of this process and counts toward the wrongful-notice limits applied to claimants.
Expired, short-dated, and altered goods
Consumables carry two extra rules, and in the categories Klatchit flags for expiry disclosure a listing cannot be published without satisfying both:
- Disclose the date. The printed expiry or best-before date must be entered on the listing and must still be in the future. Buyers see it on the product page before they order. Expired stock may not be listed at all.
- Keep the lot code intact. The seller must affirm that the manufacturer's lot or date code has not been removed, obscured, or altered. Decoding is how a recall reaches the units it has to reach; destroying it is a violation in its own right, recorded as altered goods, and is not treated as cosmetic damage.
These requirements apply to a flagged category and to every category beneath it.
If a claim against you is wrong
A seller whose listing is removed is told which claim caused it and can answer. For a copyright removal, that answer is a formal counter-notice under 17 U.S.C. §512(g): a sworn statement, made under penalty of perjury, that the material was removed by mistake or misidentification, together with a consent to jurisdiction and a physical address the claimant can serve papers to. Klatchit forwards it to the claimant, and if they do not tell us within the statutory window that they have gone to court, the listing is restored. The full process is on the DMCA page.
For the non-copyright claim types, there is no statutory restoration clock, but the dispute is reviewed the same way and an upheld dispute revokes the strike. Sellers file both from their IP notices page.
An enforcement action against the store as a whole — a warning, suspension, or termination — is appealed at Account health → Appeal. A granted appeal revokes the strikes behind it, which removes their points permanently rather than waiting out the decay window.
Obligations of the people who file
Filing a notice is a serious act with a cost attached. Under 17 U.S.C. §512(f), a person who knowingly misrepresents that material is infringing is liable for the damages that misrepresentation causes. Klatchit tracks the record of every claimant: a filer whose takedowns keep being reversed is paused from filing, and a persistent pattern is referred for a decision about barring them entirely.
This page describes Klatchit's own enforcement practice and is not legal advice. See also our DMCA notice & counter-notice process and Conditions of Use.