It’s not that often that a small company that has a problem with a corporate giant finds the behemoth to be cooperative.
But when the 11-person Sarasota company Wurkin Stiffs Inc. realized that products that infringed on a patent it held were being sold on Amazon.com, the online Goliath didn’t sic a high-powered pack of lawyers on this David of a company, Wurkin Stiffs CEO Jonathan Boos said.
Wurkin Stiffs had to file suit in federal court in January to get Amazon’s attention first, but then it acted quickly, Boos said.
“What’s amazing is that a company as big as Amazon stepped up to the plate and did what’s right,” said Boos.
It was a big move for the 8-year-old company, he said. “It’s very costly to go down the route we were going down.”
Wurkin Stiffs designs and sells fashion accessories and bags in 1,000 stores and online. It has four authorized distributors that work with Amazon in addition to having its own website. Only about 10 percent of its sales are online, Boos said.
He took his search for capital to the TV show “Shark Tank” in 2011 and has gotten his products mentioned in a variety of print, broadcast and online outlets.
As a result of the Amazon experience, the company is increasing its online branding efforts and trying to get out the word to other small businesses that fighting patent infringement is worth the effort.
“I’m trying to tell small business owners to speak up, because they perpetuate the problem if you don’t,” Boos said.
— Words and reporting by Terry Galvin