Report Intellectual Property Abuse
While the growth of e-commerce provides merchants immense opportunity to sell their products globally, it also creates an opportunity for criminals to attempt to conduct illegal transactions. From money laundering to deceptive offers, or illegal gambling to selling counterfeit goods that infringe upon Intellectual Property (“IP”) rights, Visa is committed to preventing the use of its payment brand and system for illegal transactions. It’s not an easy job, nor is it one that Visa can always handle on its own absent the support of IP Owners and law enforcement, but it is critical to maintaining the trust of all the participants in the payment system. To that end, Visa has a long track record of working closely with IP Owners and cooperating with law enforcement to combat IP infringement on the Internet. If you are an IP Owner, please read more to learn about how you can report IP infringing transactions to Visa.
Illegal Transactions Prohibited
Visa voluntarily provides assistance to IP Owners to address e-commerce transactions involving IP infringing products. Upon receiving complete information and credible evidence directly from the IP Owner establishing that a merchant (“Merchant”) is engaged in transactions involving the sale of infringing goods on the Internet using Visa-branded payment cards, Visa’s will attempt to identify and notify the Merchant’s Acquiring Bank (“Acquirer”). The Acquirer will be asked to investigate the allegations of infringement and take any appropriate action, which may include, but is not limited to, directing the Merchant to cease selling infringing goods identified by the IP Owner or terminating the merchant account.
How to report IP abuse to Visa
If you are an IP Owner whose previous enforcement efforts with the Merchant have been unsuccessful, and firmly believe that a website is accepting Visa as a form of payment for products that infringe your IP rights, you may submit up to five (5) complaints (one merchant website per complaint) per month. Please note that Visa cannot process your complaint until we are provided with all the required information and documentation.