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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR

THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
3 BEES & ME INC.,

Plaintiff,

-against- Civil Action No.

VATOS TOYS and LUKAT TOYS,

Defendants.

COMPLAINT

Plaintiff 3-Bees & Me Inc., by its undersigned counsel, as and for its Complaint against

Defendants Vatos Toys (“Vatos”) and Lukat Toys (“Lukat”), alleges as follows:

NATURE OF THIS PROCEEDING

1. This is a civil action by Plaintiff under the patent laws of the United States, 35

U.S.C. § 1, et seq., for injunctive relief and damages against Defendants for infringement of U.S.

Patent No. D819,754 S (“the ’754 Patent”). A copy of the ’754 Patent is attached as Exhibit A.

THE PARTIES

2. Plaintiff 3 Bees & Me Inc. is a California corporation with a principal place of

business at 68645 Tachevah Drive, Cathedral City, California, 92234.

3. Plaintiff is the assignee of all rights to the ’754 Patent, including rights to enforce

for past infringement. A copy of the assignment is attached as Exhibit B.

4. Plaintiff sells dinosaur toys which embody the designs in the ’754 Patent.

5. Plaintiff sells products directly to consumers through its own interactive website,

available at www.3beesandme.com, and through a store on the Amazon.com marketplace.

6. On information and belief, Defendant Vatos is located in Room 8607-608,

Building 1, District A, Internet Industry Base of Bao’an, Baoyuan Road, Baoan District,

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Shenzhen, China, 518102.

7. Vatos sells various dinosaur toys which infringe the designs in the ’754 Patent.

8. Vatos sells infringing products directly to consumers through its own interactive

website, available at www.vatostoys.com, and through a store on the Amazon.com marketplace.

9. On information and belief, Defendant Lukat is located at Room 201-205, Block

B, Yongqi Business Building, Yintian Industrial Area, Xixiang, Bao’an District, Shenzhen,

518102.

10. Lukat sells various dinosaur toys which infringe the designs in the ’754 Patent.

11. Lukat sells infringing products directly to consumers through its own interactive

website, available at www.lukattoys.com, and through a store on the Amazon.com marketplace.

JURISDICTION AND VENUE

12. Because Plaintiff asserts claims under a federal statute, 35 U.S.C. § 1, et seq., this

Court has subject matter jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1331 and 1338(a).

13. This Court has personal jurisdiction over Defendants because Defendants operate

interactive websites by which consumers in New York can purchase Defendants’ products.

Defendants purposefully direct their sales to consumers in New York by, inter alia, offering the

option of delivering products to New York residents for an added international shipping fee.

14. This Court has personal jurisdiction over Defendants also because Defendants

operate online stores on the Amazon.com platform marketplace by which consumers in New

York can purchase Defendants’ products.

15. Venue is proper in this Court pursuant to 28 U.S. Code § 1391 for the same

reasons that jurisdiction is proper in this Court.

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FACTUAL BACKGROUND

I. The ’754 Patent.

16. The ’754 Patent is a design patent, entitled Toy Dinosaur Set”, which claims and

discloses designs for various dinosaur toys. A copy of that patent is attached as Exhibit A.

17. The ’754 Patent was duly and legally issued by the United States Patent and

Trademark Office to its inventor and applicant, Jill Kiplyn Gillenwater on June 5, 2018, who

assigned the patent to Plaintiff. See Exhibit B.

18. The disclosed designs share certain common characteristics. Although the designs

use as base models different commonly-recognized dinosaurs such as the tyrannosaurus rex,

brontosaurus, stegosaurus and triceratops, the dinosaurs are depicted as friendly baby dinosaurs

with very large eyes, head regions which are the same size as the torso region and four wheels

which replace the legs of the dinosaurs. Below are a few of the diagrams from the ’754 Patent.

FIG. 3 Fig. 11

FIG. 19 Fig. 27

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II. Plaintiff’s Use of the Patented Designs.

19. Plaintiff has been manufacturing, selling and advertising dinosaur toys embodying

the designs disclosed in the ’754 Patent since at least March 22, 2017, when it first made

available for sale each of the disclosed dinosaur toys on its website.

20. Some of the designs first offered for sale by Plaintiff are depicted below:

21. Shortly thereafter, Plaintiff began selling these same products on its storefront

hosted on the Amazon.com marketplace.

III. Defendant’s Infringement of the Patented Designs.

22. On or about May 23, 2019, Plaintiff discovered that Defendant Vatos was offering

for sale products which infringe the ’754 Patent on its online store on Amazon.com. Images of
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the infringing products offered on Vatos’ Amazon.com webpages are depicted below.

23. Shortly thereafter, Plaintiff discovered that Defendant Vatos was offering for sale

products which infringe the ’754 Patent on its own online store, www.vatostoys.com. Images of

the infringing products offered on Vatos’ webpage are depicted below.

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24. On or about May 1, 2019, Plaintiff discovered that Defendant Lukat was offering

for sale products which infringe the ’754 Patent on its online store on Amazon.com. Images of

the infringing products offered on Lukat’s Amazon.com webpages are depicted below.

25. Shortly thereafter, Plaintiff discovered that Defendant Lukat was offering for sale

products which infringe the ’754 Patent on its own online store, www.lukattoys.com. Images of

the infringing products offered on Lukat’s webpage are depicted below.

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26. There is no doubt that Defendants’ dinosaur toys infringe the ’754 Patent.

27. A side-by-side comparison between the patented dinosaur toys with Defendants’

dinosaur toys shows that they are virtually identical in the impression they convey to a consumer,

and in having commonly-recognized dinosaurs such as the tyrannosaurus rex, brontosaurus,

stegosaurus and triceratops as a base, bright and simple color schemes, dinosaurs depicted as

friendly baby dinosaurs with very large eyes and head regions which are the same size as the

torso region and four wheels which replace the legs of the dinosaurs.

Plaintiff Patented Toys Lukat Infringing Toys Vatos Infringing Toys

IV. The Impact of Defendant’s Infringement on Plaintiff.

28. The impact of Defendants’ infringement has been devastating.

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29. For example, Plaintiff has suffered a fifty percent (50%) reduction in sales of its

patented toys.

30. Further, because Plaintiff was the only online retailer to offer these patented

dinosaur toys, and lost approximately fifty percent (50%) of its sales after Defendants entered the

market, Plaintiff’s market share for dinosaur toys was been cut in half.

31. Moreover, the lost in approximately fifty (50%) of its sales, forced Plaintiff to

reduce the prices of its toys from $14.95 to the current $10.47, in order to compete.

32. Moreover, because Defendants’ toys are cheaper in quality than Plaintiff’s

patented toys, Plaintiff is concerned that consumers will mistakenly confuse Defendants’

infringing toys with Plaintiff’s patented toys and mistakenly believe that Plaintiff’s toys are

cheap quality toys because Defendants’ toys are indeed cheaper in quality than Plaintiff’s toys.

The creation of this negative marketplace impression will definitely impact the reputation of

Plaintiff’s company as a manufacturer of quality toys.

V. The Interrelations of Defendant’s Operations.

33. When Plaintiff compared the images of the infringing toys used on all four

websites, Plaintiff noticed that the images of their products were all the same, leading Plaintiff to

suspect that perhaps the Defendants were in fact the same entity, or working together.

34. To confirm this suspicion, Plaintiff had its attorneys purchase samples of

Defendants’ products from their Amazon.com stores and compared them side-by-side.

35. The toys obtained from both Vatos and Lukat were identical, including the

shapes, colors, weight, and overall quality of the toys.

36. Moreover, the packaging in which the infringing samples were delivered from the

two defendants was identical except for the logo of the two companies.

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37. As experienced merchants, who have dealt with numerous toys of this type and

quality before, at stores, trade shows and factories, there is no doubt in Plaintiff’s mind that the

toys came from the same source, further confirming that both Vatos and Lukat are part of the

same enterprise and/or working together.

FIRST CAUSE OF ACTION

Infringement of the ’754 Patent

38. Plaintiff repeats and realleges Paragraphs 1-37 as if set forth fully herein.

39. Plaintiff is the owner, by assignment, of all rights to the ’754 Patent, including

rights to enforce for past infringement.

40. The ’754 Patent discloses the designs for certain dinosaur toys.

41. The ’754 Patent is valid and enforceable.

42. Defendants sell dinosaur toys which infringe the designs in the ’754 Patent.

43. Defendants sell infringing products directly to consumers in the United States

through their own interactive websites and through a collection of stores on the Amazon.com

marketplace that are all available to consumers in the United States.

44. A side-by-side comparison between the accused products and the designs

disclosed in the ’754 Patent show that Defendants’ products infringe the ’754 Patent.

45. Because Plaintiff sells products that that embody the designs in the ’754 Patent

through the same channels as Defendants, including through interactive websites and through

stores on the Amazon.com marketplace, Plaintiff has been harmed including by, but not limited

to, a loss in sales and a loss in reputation to its business and its products, since Defendants’

products are inferior knock-offs.

46. By these infringing acts, Defendants have irreparably harmed Plaintiff and such

injury will continue and grow unless Defendants are enjoined by this Court.

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RELIEF

WHEREFORE, Plaintiff respectfully requests that this Court enter judgment as follows:

(1) Holding that Defendants’ accused products infringe the ’754 Patent;

(2) Holding that Defendants’ infringement was willful and deliberate, and deeming

this case an exceptional case under 35 U.S.C. § 285;

(3) Preliminarily and permanently enjoining Defendants, their affiliates, parents,

successors, assigns, officers, agents, servants, employees, attorneys, and all persons acting in

concert or in participation with Defendants, from infringing or inducing infringement of the ’754

Patent and, specifically, from directly or indirectly making, using, selling, or offering for sale

any products embodying the designs of ’754 Patent during it term;

(4) Awarding Plaintiff damages in connection in an amount to be determined at trial,

and the trebling thereof, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 284 or, alternatively, damages in based on an

accounting of Defendants’ profits derived from their acts of infringement;

(5) Awarding Plaintiff its costs pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 284 and its reasonable

attorneys’ fees pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 285; and

(6) Awarding such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper under

the circumstances.

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EXHIBIT A
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EXHIBIT B
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JULY 17, 2019

PTAS

OLEG A. MESTECHKIN
1733 SHEEPSHEAD BAY RD, SUITE 29
BROOKLYN, NY 11235
505573974

UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE

NOTICE OF RECORDATION OF ASSIGNMENT DOCUMENT

THE ENCLOSED DOCUMENT HAS BEEN RECORDED BY THE ASSIGNMENT RECORDATION BRANCH
OF THE U.S. PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE. A COMPLETE COPY IS AVAILABLE AT THE
ASSIGNMENT SEARCH ROOM ON THE REEL AND FRAME NUMBER REFERENCED BELOW.

PLEASE REVIEW ALL INFORMATION CONTAINED ON THIS NOTICE. THE INFORMATION

CONTAINED ON THIS RECORDATION NOTICE REFLECTS THE DATA PRESENT IN THE PATENT
AND TRADEMARK ASSIGNMENT SYSTEM. IF YOU SHOULD FIND ANY ERRORS OR HAVE
QUESTIONS CONCERNING THIS NOTICE, YOU MAY CONTACT THE ASSIGNMENT RECORDATION
BRANCH AT 571-272-3350. PLEASE SEND REQUEST FOR CORRECTION TO: U.S. PATENT
AND TRADEMARK OFFICE, MAIL STOP: ASSIGNMENT RECORDATION BRANCH, P.O. BOX
1450, ALEXANDRIA, VA 22313.

RECORDATION DATE: 07/16/2019 REEL/FRAME: 049767/0113

NUMBER OF PAGES: 3

BRIEF: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST (SEE DOCUMENT FOR DETAILS).

DOCKET NUMBER: 1701-001DES

ASSIGNOR:
GILLENWATER, JILL KIPLYN DOC DATE: 07/01/2019

ASSIGNEE:
3 BEES & ME INC.
68645 TACHEVAH DRIVE
CATHEDRAL CITY, CALIFORNIA 92234

APPLICATION NUMBER: 29593650 FILING DATE: 02/10/2017

PATENT NUMBER: D819754 ISSUE DATE: 06/05/2018
TITLE: TOY DINOSAUR SET

ASSIGNMENT RECORDATION BRANCH

PUBLIC RECORDS DIVISION
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