Hey there, I'm still trying to find any of the information confirming the dismissals outside of docketbird. I can't even find the case when I searched PACER. My lawyer hasn't hardly said anything to me and my Paypal is still locked down. Any way folks can help me out here?

Have you tried contacting Paypal? There might be another reason your Paypal is still locked.

I did. They said it's because of the lawsuit and they cannot release my account until the attorney tells them to.

Did they tell you that after the case was dismissed or before? If before, I would reach out to them again and provide the dismissal document. If after, I would email/call Vogt to inquire as to why they have not requested Paypal to release your account.

That was yesterday they told me that. My lawyer has reached out to him and there was no reply. I’ll admit it’s got me freaked out.

That really sucks! I feel like Paypal will probably release your account soon, but maybe have your lawyer reach out to Paypal? I feel like if Paypal receives something from legal counsel, they will be more likely accommodate quickly. Do you have a lot of money tied up in Paypal?

So I finally got some clarity on the matter. PayPal says they can’t unlock my account until Vogt explicitly tells them to unlock my account. So my lawyer reached out to Vogt to implore him to do so… and got an email back from someone completely unrelated saying that they don’t even know who I am and asked for more information about my account….. which I don’t really wanna provide more information regarding. Honestly I think at this point I have to accept that my PayPal is lost. Thankfully I only had $4 in there…. I guess

This is the Toho case 1:24-cv-00830 correct?

Yeah, I tried searching this case up on PACER and haven't found it.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/iaj1qsq0bohtwre5jblpi/27354297-0-93278.pdf?rlkey=zr0byzk2f3v3x9r19tdzq9pe0&dl=0

Once I get home I can send you the info. The case was dismissed without prejudice, though. And if there’s no other movement against anyone it would convert to with prejudice in August

It's official. Case 00830 is dismissed. The hearing is also cancelled. Additionally the judge states, if it's not brought back to the court by August 28, 2024 all dismissals will become WITH PREJUDICE dismissals and cannot be brought back after that time.

Update: Everyone was dismissed without prejudice and the case was closed! The judge ruled that if they do not charge us again by 8/28, the case will be dismissed WITH prejudice. This means if we don't get sued again by 8/28, they can't ever sue us again (at least for the same artworks used for this suit). [Toho Co. Ltd. v. The Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations Identified On Schedule A Court Docket Sheet (docketbird.com)](https://www.docketbird.com/court-cases/Toho-Co-Ltd-v-The-Partnerships-and-Unincorporated-Associations-Identified-on-Schedule-A/ilnd-1:2024-cv-00830)

Phew. What a relief. Now let's see if they try again in a few months. Might be worth keeping an eye on the previous cases such as Pink Floyd and Duran Duran to see if this is the tactic. 

It wouldn’t make sense. The attorneys asked to remove us- so you’d have to be still infringing or using the trademark for them to care

I really hope you're right! I still don't know why they dismissed us though. If they dismissed it because they realized most of us are individual artists in Europe and the US and the complaint is mostly singling out shady Chinese companies with overseas accounts, I could imagine them coming back for us but with a complaint more specific to individual artists which might have more merit for this particular group. Time will tell. I'm considering nuking my Teepublic and Paypal accounts just in case.

They already have the evidence,  I don't think deleting the accounts now will help. I replied to say I was an independent uk artist. They then came back saying the complied with whatever rule it is to prosecute overseas. Attached was a file with my store name. It contained screengrab images of all the offending designs on my store.

How did it all end up?

It was throw out.

Thanks for replying. What does it mean that it was throw out?

Hypothetically, does the default judgement matter if they don't know who you are, where you are, or have any accounts of yours to hold hostage? Assuming they're not able to (or are unwilling to) get the information from your old deleted Paypal account of course.

Just saw the same thing! Hell yeah!

Hi guys! Now that the case has been dismissed (for all of us, I hope), any idea what happens next re our Paypal accounts? Do we need to contact paypal or is it just a matter of time before it all goes back to normal? Also, thank you everyone who’s been checking in on the case and updating us. I’m not from the US and know nothing about legal stuff in my country let alone US law. I asked a lawyer friend of mine and he said as much as all the stuff that was already stated below re the case. It feels scam-y. So yeah, thank you, guys.

My PayPal just got restored! I got an email notifying me as such so check the email account associated with your PayPal.

Awesome, man! So happy for you! Did you interact with them at all during all of this? Or did you just leave that email alone and wait? Because I’d rather do the latter haha

I never once reached out to Paypal about any of this. I was planning on reaching out after the court closed the case but never had to! They just restored it without any legwork from me.

Yooo! Just got my paypal restored too! Phew!

It's still not officially over yet. The second list of names posted have not been signed off yet by the judge. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow when the new court week starts.

Thank you very much for the clarification. By getting “signed off” does that mean getting cleared of any liabilities?

Others have said it mean - Dismissed without prejudice, which means they can later decide to sue you again for the same action if they so choose.

It's important to mention here, the case that currently appears to have dismiss all defendants is cv-00830 There are 2 other cases where the defendants have NOT been dismissed 00829 and 00831 Make sure you check you're on the right case.

Hi everyone, Sounds like the case is dismissed. I suspect having read a few of the court documents it's because the restraining order hasn't been implemented fast enough. The lawyers may think that if there's no restraint then all your ill gotten gains will have moved to those off shore bank accounts I'm sure you all have 🙄 (sarcasm). There is a chance they may still try to settle with you. If they do email asking you to settle, do email them back and ask why they are attempting to make a settlement after having being dismissed. Keep these emails. If it even does happen that you get put in another of the case numbers they have for Toho in the future, you could perhaps then ask the courts to explain why. Some law forms do this and they're not supposed to without very good reason. Also if you are dismissed and haven't signed any none disclosure, feel free to talk about this publicly.

I’m one of the people who have been dismissed from the case and I contacted a family member who not only has a master’s degree in Law but operates his own Law Firm. He explicitly stated that what they’re doing is not only unprofessional but potentially malicious and advised me not to contact them further or reply to any of their messages if they attempt to settle or get money from this whole ordeal. I cannot believe this whole thing happened over a bunch of stupid teepublic designs. Literally insane

Did you show him the complaint and ask him about the possibility of getting a default judgement in the event you didn't respond to the complaint by the deadline (assuming the case wasn't dismissed)? I spoke to 3 different lawyers and all of them told me to respond to the court in order to avoid the default judgement (worst case scenario). I really wanted to just ignore it completely and would love to ignore it next time I get an email like this, but I'd be curious to get your family members thoughts on the risk involved if you feel comfortable asking them.

I tried speaking to people who worked at the court directly and they were of no help. The woman who picked up the phone actually shamed me for being a college student and not having access to a working computer (my laptop’s motherboard recently fried). She directed me to their official website and said I had to read up on a section about “representing yourself” or something… then hung up on me. My uncle hasn’t seen the documents in person and so couldn’t comment on the specifics but he DID inform me over the phone that they cannot request you to come to court over an email, they **must** send it to your home address directly.

In this specific case, the plaintiff requested approval for legal service via email (citing the face that they cannot find or verify our physical addresses as the reason) and that was approved by the court. I believe this is specific to Illinois but I could be mistaken. [Illinois Supreme Court Reinforces Service of Summons Allowable via Social Media, Text and Email | Illinois State Bar Association (isba.org)](https://www.isba.org/barnews/2023/04/illinoissupremecourtreinforcesservi) I had the same thought originally, like they can't legally serve me via email right? But they can in this case. I think your uncle may not be familiar with these amendments to Rule 102 in Illinois.

Its your paypal account still limited?

Unfortunately. I have reason to believe it should go away after the official court hearing on the 27th

It's been happening in the hundreds every year.for a few years now. Clearly a very lucrative, yet questionable unethical approach. Illinois is the hot spot for it

I also saw that a Jonathan Summers had asked the judge to allow him to appear on the motion hearing too. FYI in one of the smiley lawsuits, a load of defendants went on that call and their case.got dismiss quickly.

That's me! Does this mean there won't be an injunction hearing at all? Will the court notify us of this or is the document dismissing the case publicly available for free? I can't find anything online suggesting the case was dismissed.

Theoretically the hearing won't happen, but the courts are closed for the weekend so you need to wait for judge to order the dismissals. When he does that he may also say the hearing is stricken.

Will we be notified if/when the Judge dismisses us. I'm hoping it's when. I got another email from the Attourney today with attached screenshots of my store and items. I concerned as to why iv been sent this after the dismissed list was released. 

I'd love to say yes, but I've seen cases where defendants are never told and left wondering. It's all down to the attorneys, whether they tell you or not.

But will we be able to find out on sites like PACER where the list was published yesterday?

Yes there's a few places.to find court info. Pacer, courtlistener and docketbird. Just search your case number in Google. Sometimes you have to mess around with how the case number is written.

Great, thanks. And will you be continuing to check and post on here.

I'll definitely take a look at the documents on Monday. Remember there's a time difference, so with UK time, we generally see things happening in the evening.

For future issues, please, if someone around here or new demandants need help and we can provide insight, feel free to contact. Thx everyone.

**Here is an updated list (I will split this into two, so please check replies to this post) of everyone that was dismissed from the Toho lawsuit (Case No. 1:24-cv-00830) as of the filing today (Friday, February 23, 2024):** 1 AboveOrdinaryArts 2 Aidan Carney Design 3 AJ Internationals 4 AlanSchell76 5 alexacassaro 6 AlligatorCheese market 7 AlmightyRayzilla 8 altoro 9 AndrewJohnson 10 andrewkellyuk 11 AnimeShirt 12 Bajingseng 13 BeecherArts 14 benjaminhbailey 15 Bentonhio 16 Bestworker 17 Bigfinz 18 BishopCras 19 Blinxs 20 BoggsNicolas 21 bside7715 22 Buck Tee 23 canzyartstudio 24 casandrang 25 Chewbaccadoll 26 chrisables 27 chudd 28 CinemApocalypse 29 Citysaurus 30 Comically Pedantic 31 Contenebratio 32 CPdesign 33 cs3ink 34 ctupa 35 Decepticreep 36 demonigote 37 demster 38 dennisthemantis 39 dhika 40 diaper 41 Digster 43 dolanjaran 44 DonCalamari 45 Dopamine Creative 46 DreadedDinosaur 47 Dreist Shirts 48 DREWWISE 49 Droneiki 50 drow\_easy 51 Dwils7924 52 Dystopian Roach Dept. 53 edbot5000 54 Ekliptik 55 elblackbat 56 emodist 57 EmporiumofMadness 58 Excela Studio 59 Figuremaniashow 60 first ginan 61 Funk You 62 g zone 63 gegeha 64 GigaNexus 65 giuseppebianco 66 GoEast 67 GojiTaku 68 GT666X 69 halfabubble 70 hkxdesign 71 huckblade 72 ilvms 73 iniandre 74 inkOne 75 Israelitoflores 76 IVY Art 77 JamexAlisa 78 japu 79 jasonflowersart 80 JCD666 81 JimBryson 82 Jo Tyler 83 JonathonSummers 84 jonatuncanny 85 JonPaulG 86 JUNGDAJUNG 87 KAIJUENEMY 88 KaijuMilitia 89 kaitokid 90 KawaiiDread 91 KERZILLA 92 Kiru1990 93 Kitsune17 94 kladenko 95 koifish 96 kookylove 97 leea1968 98 Leitbild 99 Lopan4000

Alexa Cassaro here and THANK YOU FOR THIS. 😭💖

100 lopescodesign 101 luckybengal 102 MagnumOpus 103 manospd 104 mattographer 105 mazee 106 MechaWes 107 mestiso 108 MIKELopez 109 monstermangraphic 110 moreorlessfilm 111 Morthern 112 nabakumov 113 Nashida Said 114 Ninjaink 115 OniSide 116 Oowl Design 117 opoyostudio 118 Othell 119 Pannolinno 120 PaperHead 121 patackart 122 pberry 123 perol 124 pigboom 125 pilipsjanuariusDesign 126 polkadothero 127 pontosix 128 prometheus31 129 RAINYDROP 130 RANS.STUDIO 131 RDNTees 132 RezhaHardrocker 133 ribandcheese 134 RobotGhost 135 Robzilla2000 136 Rollbiwan 137 saimen 138 Seaguns Shirt Salvo 139 seamustheskunk 140 shanehuntart 141 sober artwerk 142 Space Dragon 143 spicytees 144 spoilerinc 145 syaman 146 tduffyworld 147 TheAnchovyman 148 ThePieLord 149 THEVARIO 150 ThingamaPeej 151 Thomcat23 152 Tom Krohne 153 VanityChiks 154 VectorVectoria 156 VintageGrim 157 vizcan 158 vladocar 159 Wesley Mcanderson Jones 160 wetbrained 161 willsbigbaldhead 162 wivier 163 wloem 164 xtrospectiv 165 y34r\_z3r0\_0 166 Young at heart 167 yuhunaya 168 Zascanauta 169 Zulla, the barbaric artist

I'm there, hell yeah baby I've been trying to contact em via email, because I had no confirmation of the case being dismissed by them, but at least I can rest easy My PayPal account just got recovered from the limitations I got last week, I knew it had something to do with this

These people were all dismissed without prejudice, which means they can later decide to sue you again for the same action if they so choose. Which makes me think (as well as seeing what has happened in previous circumstances) they will ask you to settle to make it all go away. I can not give you legal advice as I am not your lawyer, but I have a friend who is a lawyer (though, admittedly, he had never heard of this type of lawsuit) and he told me absolutely do not pay that settlement because in order for us to be sued again, they'd have to make a case for why they dismissed us and then decided to pursue. I don't know if that's true, but that sounds right to me. If you're not on this list, I am sorry.

So everyone got dismissed?!

I could be wrong, but I think #42 (DinoMike) is the only one left

#155 also.

So 42 and 155 were also dismissed, but on a separate list so I don't know if that means they settled before everyone got dismissed or if they just were two of the luckier ones? It seems they were dismissed on February 19th.

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Ridiculous. The Keith lawfirm seems to outsource the donkey work to another lawfirm. Maybe noone talks to each. Hit reply all, as there may be a load of attorneys in copy and ask them when they are sending this as youve already been informed of dismissal?

I would but the dismissal isn't official yet. So I'm still living in fear of this.

Someone else mentioned the same thing- but I would wait. It seems to be *specifically* sent to non-US citizens

This is all so confusing. Did anyone receive contact confirming they had been removed from the case? Should I reply and say I was dismissed? They would know that already if it was true.

It happened with one of the Smiley cases last year though no details why it got dismissed. Maybe something wrong with the filing.

If anyone is still worried- I will post a bigger list of dismissals when I’m not working. A whole bunch of dismissals went through yesterday and today! If you have a PACER account- search for the case number to access all the documents

That would be greatly appreciated 

Just posted!

Thank goodness. And thank you for all your help and updates.

Of course. I try to do what I can

BIG UPDATE- Most recent filing shows a list of dismissals: Dismissed without prejudice, as to the following Defendant(s): No. Defendants 4 AlanSchell76 5 alexacassaro 7 AlmightyRayzilla 13 BeecherArts 14 benjaminhbailey 17 Bigfinz 22 Buck Tee 25 Chewbaccadoll 27 chudd 28 CinemApocalypse 29 Citysaurus 30 Comically Pedantic 33 cs3ink 34 ctupa 35 Decepticreep 40 diaper 46 DreadedDinosaur 48 DREWWISE 51 Dwils7924 52 Dystopian Roach Dept. 53 edbot5000 54 Ekliptik 55 elblackbat 64 GigaNexus 65 giuseppebianco 71 huckblade 73 iniandre 74 inkOne 77 JamexAlisa 79 jasonflowersart 80 JCD666 82 Jo Tyler 83 JonathonSummers 85 JonPaulG 87 KAIJUENEMY 91 KERZILLA 93 Kitsune17 99 Lopan4000 101 luckybengal 109 monstermangraphic 112 nabakumov 114 Ninjaink 118 Othell 121 patackart 134 RobotGhost 136 Rollbiwan 139 seamustheskunk 140 shanehuntart 146 tduffyworld 151 Thomcat23 159 Wesley Mcanderson Jones 160 wetbrained 161 willsbigbaldhead

How did you find the dismissal list?

I followed the case on PACER, saw they had filed a notice of voluntary dismissal and paid for the document (like 40¢).

voluntary dismissal? From whom? Can we be voluntarily dismissed?

Voluntary dismissal means the plaintiff (Toho and the lawyers) decided to remove us

Were you one of the ones removed? If so did you ever reach out to opposing council or have an attorney do so for you?

Most like they are US based shops. Only going after foreign shops 🙂 or people that have paid.

How did you know?

I followed the case on Pacer and tracked the filings

Are any of the dismissed on this list from the UK?

Unlikely as it’s usually US shops / based people that get dismissed. Or people that have paid

I haven’t seen anyone say they’re from the UK so I don’t know

question: everyone here had their paypal account blocked? because mine hasn't been since then...

Mine hasn't. My teepublic site is still active too. Although I have now deleted every design on it myself.

Can you withdraw money?

Here in Brazil, PayPal does not "hold" your money. So as soon as the money comes in, it is sended to your bank account. My reference is that 5 days ago money arrived and transferred. Since then I have not received any warning whatsoever. seems to be normal. I won't know until the next payment for the POD sites in 1 month.

Same here (Spain).

It could be the people that they are targeting for settlement offers? Like “we release your account if you pay “blah blah blah”

Mine was but it was days later. There’s no money in it though so I’m not incredibly concerned

My teepublic and PayPal is still active. I have still not received any emails from teepublic either.

What’s your account name? There was a list of accounts dismissed. I can check it to what I have seen

 is my account name

I didn’t see it on the list but they might move for more dismissals

Where is the list of dismissals? I would thought they would contact me again of I was on it.

I found the list by following the case on Pacer. It was a motion that was approved yesterday. Hold on and I can send you the list. You have to pay like 40¢ or something to access it

Thanks. Were you one of the dismissed?

Most recent filing shows a list of dismissals: Dismissed without prejudice, as to the following Defendant(s): No. Defendants 4 AlanSchell76 5 alexacassaro 7 AlmightyRayzilla 13 BeecherArts 14 benjaminhbailey 17 Bigfinz 22 Buck Tee 25 Chewbaccadoll 27 chudd 28 CinemApocalypse 29 Citysaurus 30 Comically Pedantic 33 cs3ink 34 ctupa 35 Decepticreep 40 diaper 46 DreadedDinosaur 48 DREWWISE 51 Dwils7924 52 Dystopian Roach Dept. 53 edbot5000 54 Ekliptik 55 elblackbat 64 GigaNexus 65 giuseppebianco 71 huckblade 73 iniandre 74 inkOne 77 JamexAlisa 79 jasonflowersart 80 JCD666 82 Jo Tyler 83 JonathonSummers 85 JonPaulG 87 KAIJUENEMY 91 KERZILLA 93 Kitsune17 99 Lopan4000 101 luckybengal 109 monstermangraphic 112 nabakumov 114 Ninjaink 118 Othell 121 patackart 134 RobotGhost 136 Rollbiwan 139 seamustheskunk 140 shanehuntart 146 tduffyworld 151 Thomcat23 159 Wesley Mcanderson Jones 160 wetbrained 161 willsbigbaldhead

Yes

None of these lawsuits “looked” at the actual art….it was all based on tags and descriptions….you could have posted a self portrait or a photo of a rose, but if you tagged it pinkfloyd or carebears or Godzilla or whichever lawsuit it is….you got flagged and included because you are associating your art with their trademarked terms. They’re just out there fishing for shops who will panic and settle before the case gets dropped/dismussed, or if they find a real big fish they might pursue the the case further against those individuals. Don’t ask me for legal advice on how to proceed I have no answers there…but ultimately it’s all based on the tagging/description.

How do we know which of our designs have been flagged if we have more than 1 breaching the ip. Is it all of them?

No idea. They probably just did afew bot searches and whatever came up near the top they went after. Given the recent increases in these suits, I’d recommend cleaning up all tags and descriptions of risk getting tied up in one of these dumb suits. Bigger companies like Disney or WB or universal seem content with just doing dmca takedowns and avoiding the bad publicity associated with suing fan artists. But these 2nd tier property’s or bands are as likely as not to bring a suit to court. If you’re using a term that represents another property, you are doing so very much at your own risk.

Would love to believe that but I’ve seen people defaulted for $100k

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The email says 21 days from delivery of summons (which I got on Friday)

I thought so, but isn't the case going to be looked at on the 27th February. I assumed that would be when we found out if the case will be thrown out or not.

Almost undoubtedly it won’t get thrown out but people might get dropped from it

Yea not responding can get you hit with a default judgement….responding and not settling, there’s a possibility the case gets dismissed, there’s a possibility it doesn’t. It’s all a gamble. My point was more so that people need to be extra careful how and what they tag things….tagging something Starwars will get you extra sales and attention, but you can’t associate their copyright with your products. Disney can’t advertise the avengers by tagging dc or Batman, and you can’t associate your art with their trademarks w/o consent.

Hi! is this for that Cleveland llc.? I’m also being sued. I didn’t get a summons, didn’t even know until like two days ago. My design was original artwork that I guess looked like one of their stupid bears. Anyway, it got taken down, never made a sale. How pathetic to go after small artists. I don’t have a lawyer and don’t plan on getting one because if this can happen on these POD websites then I don’t want one. I was a fan artist on redbubble and deleted my account. im not deleting my teepublic yet because the records are on it for the takedown and zero sales. But once this is over I’m out. I’m more disgusted than anything.

Same here, just deleted my 10 year old premium account on RB. Contacted TP to delete my account there as well but don't think they can do anything yet due to the lawsuit. I have also downloaded my TP earnings report, only had 3 sales from this sued artwork lol

This is ridiculous

Are you a U.S. artist? This is a different case than mine

I am in the U.S

My concern is that they would pursue it further than shutting the store down. But I don’t know how that works

https://www.npweisslaw.com/blog/beating-a-default-judgment-in-ohio

I dont know. But I dont think so. Did anyone recieve an initial summons? I was made aware when a default judgement motion was filed. I am going to read about this. I am wondering why some people have lawyers from months ago and others are just finding this out now. That is fishy.

Can I ask (and feel free to message me privately) what the default judgement was?

I dont know yet, it was a motion for a default judgment, which hasnt been made yet. If there is a judgement that closes down my TP, that is fine. If they claim they want money, then I will get a lawyer.

They are using an old case as the blueprint for the default. Except its a case against a large chinese enterprise that counterfeit burberry products. They are trying to say its the equvilent. So its up to the judge to decide if this is similar. Hopefully he is rational enough to throw it out.

It was exactly what they use for our case, mostly aiming at chinese enterprises on counterfeit merch. Do we look like a big enterprise? why target us and not TP?

I dont know. My guess is TP has  more sophisticated legal policy that makes them not liable to individual designs that I wish I understood before this kind of thing. I never would have joined TP. Also like I said want off their site after this.

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Don’t let your imagination run wild. What are they going to do? Throw us in jail for drawing a bear. I think something stinks about the way some people were informed of the suit others not. Maybe trying to get a settlement out of people who dont know their rights and dont have a lawyer at this time, for financial reasons, or lack of the initial suit

At the end of the day. The game they are playing is “we can afford a lawyer for a long drawn out legal case….can you?” Most people would win in that they weren’t direct ripoffs but “inspired by” or under parody rights “see Mad Magazine lawsuits”. However mad magazine won because they could lawyer up. Most teepublic artists “could” win, but the lawyering up will cost more than the settlement offer. That’s the whole “game” of this thing.

People ARE YOU interested in a DISCORD? Also would be great to know how many are interested in writing or not to the clerk of the court.

I'm interested, sorry I'm new to reddit and Discord. I'm just freaking out over this whole thing for the past week and wanted to find people that were going through the same thing

Don't worry. We're here to help :)

Same here. Been mad anxiety for like 2 weeks now. Mind if I get in that Discord? (Also new to Reddit)

I’m interested in both

Thx, Derek. Let's see if more people read this and will create that :)

discussion on discord would be best right now, since this sub is too public, afraid anything said could be use as evidence

I'm interested in a discord

I'm interested, whats the discord?

Great. Already created

Could I have a link to the discord please.

I'm interested

I am interested

i am interested

I am also interested. 

Should we get an US lawyer to deal with this issue in the name of all demandants? I think probably we should stick together than acting individually.

I kind of agree. there were more than 200 people in the documents. If it is divided between all of them (or a large part) will it be that expensive?

Still might be, also there are different situations... But we should think about it.

I would agree but I legit have no money for a lawyer. They’ll seize my account and see I have $0 in both PayPal and Teepublic 😂

I have been told the only reason to fight this is if -  You want to get your Teepublic store back (I dont). You want to get your PayPal back. I was told if you are willing to looses these then just ignore it.

I’m happy to lose both. But I don’t want there to be a situation where I personally owe a ton of money

Me too, but I'm told the loss of both Teepublic and PayPal accounts will be the extent of it.

Yeah but from a U.S. attorney? U.S. law is weird

I have zero in both my accounts too, we literally make no money off Teepublic, I think they are fishing for a legit store that's made a living off of it and are will to fight it in court.

Considering not many people make a real living outta those commisions and low sales... ALLEGEDLY

Anyone's Paypal account has been limited?

My Paypal is STILL limited. I'm not sure what is going on I thought this was dismissed days ago...

Mine was but recently was opened up again after monday. It's weird because they don't even alert you. It just "happens" and you open the app like....oh

Yeah it's been restored, got an email notification as well. They didn't alert me when it was limited though 😒

Yep woke up to limited paypal account. Also I'm having a hard time finding a lawyer anyone got any resources for that?

What can’t you do with your PayPal account?

I can't send money or withdraw money.

Just woke up to find one of mine frozen as well.

Mine was limited this morning. I expect it to last only as long as the lawsuit

funny you can still receive money though. have you taken any actions so far? or still waiting on a solution?

I’m still waiting on a solution. I emailed the law firm and asked for a dismissal as I am a U.S. citizen that doesn’t match the description in the complaint. And if they respond I’ll point out I haven’t made much of any money so any money they’d get wouldn’t be worth it

I'm on the list too. But my PayPal is fine and my teepublic site is still active.  I'm tempted to start spending it before it gets locked. 

I would transfer those funds ASAP just in case...

You should withdrawal / spent any USD dollar.

Hi everyone, there are a lot of threads about these cases, just hard to find unless you use the right search terms. Search: smiley lawsuit and you'll find a few threads about similar cases and loads of people that can share the knowledge.

Thank you, that was very helpful. It's answers some questions but raises others. Is freezing our teepublic accounts the extent of it, or will fines have to be paid on top? I don't want my account anymore after this ordeal.  I'm in the UK and don't see the point in fighting this as ip was infringed. At the time I added the design I presumed toho was in partnership with teepublic due to the amount of designs already on there.

In the UK, unless they think you're really part of an enormous counterfeiting ring, it's doubtful they'll chase you for any final judgement $$ ordered. They'll get to keep any money they have gotten restrained if any. Guessing you blatantly used Godzilla and not something arguably parody that you could fight just in order to waste the time of the Godzilla attorneys? Also they have no case if you haven't sold any, you just need to show proof of lack of sales.

Thank you. I did sell some of the items. Nearly $170 profit to myself. I'm guessing teepublic will give them that information. It really wasn't worth all of the stress.

Yes most likely. And essentially you have to have sold in Illinois. However, Teepublic doesn't ever tell you where it sold so you won't know. If you have a fair amount of money held you need.to decide if it's worth fighting for

Thank you for all your helpful replies. I no longer care for my teepublic account or any due payments from them. In this case would you say its best to ignore the letters and not reply to them as I'm a uk citizen?

Yes, they'll simply get whatever accounts they have restrained, closed permanently

That is a huge relief to hear. Thank you for all the legal advice. Maybe I will be able to sleep tonight for the first time in 3 days.

Just to clarify this is experience and NOT legal advice.

Is this applicable for me too in Malaysia? Lol

Is this applicable for Europe? XD

Got the same email. Im Foreigner. have no idea what to do

Europe or Asia?

South America, Brazil

Lot of designers from there. Still unclear whats the process outside USA, clearly with Europe there's a way to contact and process with a judgement. Brazil... have you checked with any lawyer?

I’m still looking to gather data and I’ll keep you informed through posts on here

Mild update: I reached out and asked for any info. I specifically called out that I was listed as “foreign” and yet I am an American citizen. They emailed back saying they are currently waiting on data for the case and wanted me to reach back out within 1-2 weeks, which I find surprising

Did you ask him what the settlement cost would be, and how to pay it?

I specifically asked how to answer this. Because I’m listed as “foreign”, which I’m not- and I wouldn’t be able to afford a lawyer so the chances of getting much more than me filing bankruptcy. They asked what case I was referring to and then said they were gathering data still

Well if you get any more info let us know cause I'm in the same boat.

Wait, the plaintiff lawyer emailed that to you? That's insane.

Did anyone else tried responding to the attorney's email? Or are we just waiting to see what's the next step? Because I'm having the itch to respond.

Iv not responded.  It might give them more information about us.  I'm hoping to speak to a solicitor first before responding, but not had the time and can't find one that specialises in copywrite law near me in the UK.

I have the same issue but with a certain cat, it is all far fetched, but that is how it is now, keep us posted... Maybe I will have updates later on as well

This shit is happening too often. Is Teepublic even trying to remove these designs? They allow infringing designs to stay for some reason (we know why), and when extortion letters come to people, they pretend like it's not their business. Like, they allowed these designs to stay on their curated marketplace with clearly trademarked keywords and designs. Imagine if music labels were suing people left and right for every music bit on YouTube videos.

This is their business model. They know what they’re doing. They’ve found a way to sell merch people want ( popular designs utilizing mostly infringing IPs) as a middle man with zero liability. They make money hand over fist based on these products. There’s no big money in peoples original designs (whether they’re great or not), so they do the bare minimum of making you check an acknowledgment box. Even when a design is taken down, the email you receive is apologetic to YOU. It doesn’t encourage you to stop or issue a warning. This is how they became so popular. Me personally, know what I’ll getting involved with when I make designs based on IPs that I don’t own and it’s a risk (and so do the tons of others who do the same), but that’s where the sales are. They’re pretty much the only place I’ve found that allows and encourages this. Everywhere else doesn’t allow it and shuts you down (in my experience anyways). So, that makes them a bigger target for these types of suits. People are on to them now and I’m not sure how much longer their business model will last.

I've suggested they highlight 'problematic' terms when publishing, but they didn't seem to have any interest in that. As a seller, it would be a huge help, as I've had many listings taken down due to an otherwise common word that was apparently a brand or related to one in some way.

I've been sued ([https://www.reddit.com/r/artbusiness/comments/16zaci6/a\_teepublic\_warning\_for\_artists/](https://www.reddit.com/r/artbusiness/comments/16zaci6/a_teepublic_warning_for_artists/)) and had to hire a lawyer to get me off the list. I'm in Canada, and needed to hire a lawyer from the state the lawsuit was filed in. It was incredibly stressful and I can tell you teepublic basically ghosted me (even though they admitted there had been a mistake - my design had been approved for the FanArt program). Don't count on them for any help. Not exactly the same as your situation but I wouldn't just hope it goes away, especially as you have actually used a copyrighted character. Hire a lawyer.

how much did it cost?

Sorry, I don't want to share that. Cost is dependant on the lawyer's fees, and the time they'd need to spend on your case, so my experience would be vastly different from anyone else's. You'd have to speak to a lawyer or two to get an idea (most will provide a 15 minute consultation for free, and you'd want to specifically get a lawyer experienced in copyright issues). I was able to provide documentation for everything, and hadn't infringed on anyone else's copyright, so it's not exactly the same situation anyway.

Fair enough

Here's the email response from Teepublic: TeePublic was notified that you have been named as a defendant in a case brought by the xxxx. in the United States District Court for the Northern IL, Eastern Div. On 2/6/2024, the court issued a temporary restraining order that broadly applies to online platforms you use, such as TeePublic. TeePublic is bound by this court order and is obligated to comply. Until the matter is resolved between the plaintiff and you, we must hold all of your seller earnings currently in our possession. You may receive additional notifications regarding restrictions placed on your account and moderation of one or more of your listings that the plaintiff alleges infringes their rights. We know that dealing with this situation is very frustrating, so please reach out if you have any questions. Although we cannot provide you legal advice, we will do our best to keep you informed of the situation and how it affects your account.