Anyone who searches for their own brand on Mercado Livre (Mercado Libre in Brazil) or Shopee is often in for a shock: dozens of listings from unknown sellers, some far cheaper than the official price. The first impulse is to report them all. It does not work: some of these listings are legitimate resales, the report gets rejected and the time is lost.
This article is for those who manage the brand and for the legal team of companies that sell physical products. It shows what the law allows resellers, where it crosses the line and how to request the removal of what is actually unlawful.
What the law allows: reselling the original
Brazil's Industrial Property Law (LPI) gives the owner exclusive use of the trademark, but it also lists what the owner cannot prevent. Under art. 132, III, the owner cannot prevent the free circulation of an original product placed on the Brazilian market by the owner or with the owner's consent.
In practice, anyone who bought the original product, from a distributor or another store, may resell it. The reseller may use the brand name in the listing and product photos to sell it. Reselling without a contract with the company is, as a rule, not grounds for removal.
Where it crosses the line
The line is crossed when the buyer is misled about who is selling or about the product. Examples:
- Counterfeiting: a product that imitates the original and uses the brand without authorization. Descriptions such as "replica", "AAA replica" or "inspired by" are common signs.
- Fake official store: the store presents itself as an "official store" or "official reseller" without being one.
- The company's identity: the brand's logo used as if it were the store itself, in its name or photo, suggesting that it is the company.
- Tampered or refurbished products sold as new and original.
- Products not compliant with Anvisa (Brazil's health regulatory agency): without registration or notification, when required. This is common with supplements, cosmetics and health products, and puts buyers at risk.
- Imports without consent: a product the company placed on the market of another country, sold in Brazil without its consent, in the cases in which the law allows the owner to object. This case calls for a lawyer's assessment.
Copied photos: a separate issue
Many listings use the photos from the official website. That use may involve copyright, which is different from the use of the trademark and follows another law. When the photos belong to the company, it can also request the removal of the listing on that ground, showing that the photos are its own.
Signs that deserve attention
No single sign decides. These deserve a closer look:
- a price far below the official one;
- a new seller or one with no sales history;
- a description with "replica" or similar terms;
- low-quality photos, or copied photos without the real product;
- many identical listings from different stores.
A low price may be a clearance sale, old stock or a used product. It is a reason to look at the listing carefully, not proof of counterfeiting.
Before reporting
Three precautions avoid rejections:
- Keep a list of authorized stores and resellers. It separates, from the start, who sells with your authorization.
- Check the class of the registration. The registration at INPI (Brazil's trademark office) must be in the class that covers the product listed. Supplements, for example, are in class 05. A registration only in another class weakens the request.
- Store evidence of the listing. Listings change price, photos and title, and disappear after a report. A complete capture, with date and time, an integrity code (such as SHA-256) and a timestamp from an external authority, shows what was online.
How to report
Both marketplaces have their own channels for trademark owners:
- Mercado Livre: the Brand Protection Program, in which the owner or their attorney registers the brand and reports listings.
- Shopee: the Brand IP Portal, Shopee's channel for intellectual property reports. Access requires a brand account.
On Amazon, the channel for trademark owners is Brand Registry, Amazon's own program.
A good request includes: who is asking, the right (the trademark registration at INPI, in the right class), the exact link to the listing, the evidence with date and time, the reason in a few sentences (counterfeiting, misleading use of the brand, fake official store) and what you want (removal of the listing). The resale of the original product is left out: reporting it leads to rejections and wears down the relationship with the marketplace.
If the marketplace refuses or does not reply, a well-prepared out-of-court notice, with the exact link, the evidence and the reason, now carries more weight. Under the theses of Brazil's Supreme Federal Court (STF) on the Marco Civil da Internet, Brazil's Internet Civil Framework (June 2025, with the theses clarified in the motions for clarification decided in June 2026), the provider may be held liable if it does not remove unlawful content after being notified, unless there is reasonable doubt. As the application of these theses is still being defined by the courts, check with a lawyer before relying on them in a specific case.
How Patentiq helps
With the Marketplaces add-on, Patentiq reads the public listings on Mercado Livre and Shopee that use your brand, without logging in to the platforms. Authorized stores registered by the company are kept separate: out of the decision queue and with no removal request. Listings priced far below the official price appear as "Suspicious price", a flag to look at carefully, never proof of counterfeiting. Listings from unauthorized sellers also appear, so the company knows who sells the brand, even when removal does not apply. Each listing is stored with a seal and a timestamp.
The takedown request is contracted separately and applies to listings marked as counterfeit, trademark misuse or product irregular at Anvisa. For a request based on copied photos, Patentiq sends the request after the company's master user confirms, on the platform, that the photo belongs to the company. The decision to remove belongs to the marketplace; Patentiq makes sure the request arrives complete and well documented.
To see the monitoring for your brand, request a demo.
Marketplaces at Patentiq: the weekly collection, the flags on each listing and the stored proof are on the Marketplaces page.