VIZ Media’s counterfeit lawsuit over RWBY merchandise ended with a federal judge in Chicago entering a default judgment of up to $26.2 million against 131 online sellers on February 25, 2025, ordering each defendant to pay $200,000 and directing payment processors to freeze and hand over their account balances. The publisher has since filed at least four more suits following the same pattern.1Anime Corner. VIZ Media RWBY Lawsuit $26 Million
Who VIZ Sued and What They Were Selling
VIZ Media acquired the RWBY franchise from Warner Bros. Discovery in 2024 after Rooster Teeth was shut down.2VIZ Media. VIZ Media Acquires RWBY Within months, it began going after counterfeit sellers on Amazon, eBay, AliExpress, Wish.com, and Walmart.
The defendants were not named companies. According to the complaints, they were individuals and business entities of “unknown makeup” running interactive e-commerce stores aimed at U.S. consumers, most of them believed to operate from China or other foreign jurisdictions. VIZ said the sellers used aliases, false registration information, and shared design templates to hide who they were and how they were connected.3ILND Court Filing. VIZ Media v. The Partnerships, Case No. 24-cv-12581, Complaint
VIZ said it found them through its own brand protection sweeps of online marketplaces, consumer complaints, and market research. Investigators flagged shared patterns: common design elements, similar registration details, overlapping payment methods, recurring grammatical errors, and similarities in the goods themselves that suggested a common manufacturing source.3ILND Court Filing. VIZ Media v. The Partnerships, Case No. 24-cv-12581, Complaint
The complaints described the merchandise as “unauthorized, unauthentic, and counterfeit products” bearing RWBY trademarks and copyrighted material, often sold in packaging that was identical or nearly identical to genuine RWBY products and priced below the real goods. VIZ argued the counterfeits caused consumer confusion, damaged the brand’s goodwill, harmed its authorized dealer network, and stripped the company of control over creative content tied to the franchise.3ILND Court Filing. VIZ Media v. The Partnerships, Case No. 24-cv-12581, Complaint
How the Case Moved So Fast
The lead suit, VIZ Media, LLC v. The Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations Identified on Schedule A, was filed December 11, 2024, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and assigned to District Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins.4PACER Monitor. VIZ Media v. The Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations Identified on Schedule A
It used a procedure known in that district as “Schedule A” litigation. The plaintiff lists large numbers of anonymous defendants on a sealed schedule and sues them all together in a single action, then typically seeks an emergency temporary restraining order to freeze assets and halt sales before the sellers know they’ve been sued. Roughly 4,200 such cases were filed in the Northern District between 2013 and early 2025.5Taft Law. Understanding Schedule A Trademark Litigation: A Step-by-Step Guide
Because the defendants were largely anonymous overseas sellers, most never appeared. That left the case to move to default.
The $26.2 Million Judgment
On February 25, 2025, Judge Jenkins entered a default judgment against the 131 remaining defendants. Each was ordered to pay $200,000: $100,000 for willful trademark infringement and $100,000 for willful copyright infringement, bringing the total potential award to $26.2 million.1Anime Corner. VIZ Media RWBY Lawsuit $26 Million
The order went beyond money. Marketplace accounts were to be closed, and infringing websites were to be disabled or transferred to VIZ Media’s control. Payment processors and platforms, including PayPal, Alipay, Alibaba, Wish.com, Ant Financial, and Amazon Pay, were directed to freeze the defendants’ funds and transfer any account balances to VIZ Media within 14 days of the order.1Anime Corner. VIZ Media RWBY Lawsuit $26 Million
Whether VIZ Will Actually Collect
A judgment on paper and money in the bank are not the same thing. Many defendants are believed to operate under multiple aliases and from outside the United States, so VIZ may face real difficulty recovering the full amount. Freezing funds held by U.S.-connected payment processors captures whatever sits in those accounts at the moment of the order. Sellers who have already moved money offshore, or who simply reopen under new names, can evade collection.1Anime Corner. VIZ Media RWBY Lawsuit $26 Million
More Suits Since
The lead case was not the end of the campaign. Since it concluded, VIZ has filed at least four additional lawsuits related to RWBY trademarks and copyrights, targeting new groups of sellers under the same Schedule A model.1Anime Corner. VIZ Media RWBY Lawsuit $26 Million
The Schedule A approach itself has drawn criticism. Some judges in the Northern District have pushed back on broad joinder of unrelated defendants, cautioning that lumping hundreds of sellers into one suit takes more than showing they all engaged in similar bad acts online. Courts have also sanctioned plaintiffs who failed to conduct adequate due diligence before adding defendants to Schedule A lists.5Taft Law. Understanding Schedule A Trademark Litigation: A Step-by-Step Guide VIZ’s continued filings suggest the company sees rolling enforcement as the cost of holding the franchise.