Raleigh law firm Envisage Law announced today that a federal judge has hit the brakes on a global counterfeiting operation, entering a preliminary injunction against twenty online sellers accused of counterfeiting and infringing their clients’ products across AliExpress, Alibaba, and eBay. The court also unsealed its prior ex-parte TRO in favor of the plaintiff that had ordered the disabling of over 1,300 infringing listings and freezing the associated e-commerce accounts.
The court found the plaintiff likely to prevail on its trademark, patent, and copyright claims and facing irreparable harm without court intervention. Counsel for the plaintiff, Anthony Biller, from Envisage Law, said he believes it is the first “Schedule A” IP lawsuit filed in a North Carolina federal court, a landmark move in North Carolina’s battle against counterfeit motorcycle parts flooding U.S. shelves and screens.
Counterfeiting Goes Global — and Digital
This is not an isolated case — it’s a symptom. Global trade in fake goods hit an estimated $467 billion in 2025, per the OECD and EUIPO, with counterfeiters pushing beyond apparel and footwear into automotive parts. China remains ground zero, driving roughly 45% of seizures, as bad actors get craftier — shipping components unassembled and leaning on small parcels to dodge inspection.
E-commerce supercharged the problem. Marketplaces built for speed and scale also make it easy to sell fakes anonymously — pop-up storefronts vanish before regulators can react. For motorcycle and auto parts, the stakes go beyond lost sales: counterfeit lighting and components can put riders’ safety on the line.
Even U.S. trade regulators have taken notice, repeatedly naming major online marketplaces involved in this lawsuit in the government’s “Notorious Markets” reports. That’s the landscape that pushed Envisage Law toward a “Schedule A” strategy — one lawsuit, one court, dozens of anonymous and apparently interrelated sellers held accountable at once.
Court Finds Widespread, Deliberate Infringement
The complaint shows more than 1,300 instances of infringement of the plaintiff’s copyrighted works, trademarks, and design patents across AliExpress, Alibaba, and eBay storefronts. The court found each seller deliberately targeted U.S. — including North Carolina — shoppers, offering U.S. shipping, dollar-based payment, and products dressed up in copied designs using the plaintiff’s copyrighted pictures and registered trademarks.
Judge Boyle found clear-cut cases of copyright, trademark, and design patent infringement — ruling that the fakes created consumer confusion, eroded the plaintiff’s goodwill and reputation, and cost the company sales no dollar figure can fully repair.
Scope of the Injunction
The Preliminary Injunction Order bars the named defendants, twenty seller aliases operating across Alibaba, AliExpress, and eBay, from manufacturing, marketing, advertising, offering for sale, or selling any product bearing the plaintiff’s trademarks, copyrighted works or using their patented designs.
The order also directs third-party platforms, including Alibaba, AliExpress, eBay, and PayPal, to freeze funds connected to the defendants’ accounts, disable related advertisements, and turn over records identifying the operators behind the storefronts within seven calendar days of notice.